Willow Flycatcher Up Close – What Are Rictal Bristles?
On Sunday I had a wonderful opportunity to photograph an adult Willow Flycatcher up close when it landed very near my vehicle high in the Wasatch Mountains.
On Sunday I had a wonderful opportunity to photograph an adult Willow Flycatcher up close when it landed very near my vehicle high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Yesterday morning I spent a few minutes with a cooperative adult Willow Flycatcher in a willow thicket high in the Wasatch Mountains.
There is a story behind these Dusky Flycatcher photos that I took earlier this week while I sat in my Jeep next to a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
This creekside Willow Flycatcher photo was a highlight and my favorite photo that I took yesterday while I was high in the mountains looking for birds.
While I was out in the West Desert of Utah yesterday I thought about my friend Billy Fenimore and his family as I photographed this adult Gray Flycatcher.
I-80 runs east/west through Parleys Canyon and just after 1 pm a catalytic convertor ejected hot particles along the roadside which started the #ParleysCanyonFire.
Yesterday morning I was able to spend time taking Willow Flycatcher photos high in the mountains with clear skies overhead as I watched the flycatchers hunting for prey.
The last time I was up in the Wasatch Mountains I heard several "FITZ-bew" calls but didn't see a single Willow Flycatcher out in the open.
I took forty-eight photos of this flycatcher three days ago as it watched for flying insects from its perch and I realized that these might be the last Willow Flycatcher photos that I take this year.
Three days ago I was thoroughly delighted when an adult Willow Flycatcher that had been hiding behind a branch flew in for a nice series of close up photos.
Once I'm in Willow Flycatcher habitat the next thing I do is to listen for them. I often hear Willow Flycatchers before I see them because they can blend into their habitat well.
As it turns out this flycatcher gave me a wonderful behavioral clue that made identifying it a little easier for me because I watched it wag its tail slowly up and down repeatedly while perched which Gray Flycatchers are known to do.
It seems that I have spent a lot of time photographing Willow Flycatchers this year and I am happy that I have because I enjoying taking photos of these flycatchers.
My persistence and knowledge of a Willow Flycatcher's territory paid off again yesterday morning when the flycatcher flew in close and landed on a willow branch not far from where I sat in my Jeep.
The Willow Flycatcher perched out in the open high on a shrub with a clear blue sky in the background and I didn't even mind the foliage and branches behind and above the bird.
Because of a two part call, FITZ-bew, I had no trouble identifying a flycatcher that I saw, photographed and heard yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains as a Willow Flycatcher.
I am glad I didn't rush to report a Least Flycatcher along with the Baltimore Oriole when this little empid is actually a Dusky Flycatcher and a photographic lifer for me.
All summer long I have heard Willow Flycatchers up in some of the Wasatch Mountain Canyons but had been unable to capture quality images of them.
As I watched the Gray Flycatcher it flew towards me, snatched a damselfly from mid air then landed on a dead branch not too far away and proceeded to eat it while I photographed the bird.
Early last week while photographing Western Kingbirds I also had the opportunity to photograph a Willow Flycatcher that was hanging around the same area on Antelope Island State Park.
Today I am posting what I believe to be a Least Flycatcher that was perched in an evergreen along a road in Idaho.