Posted by Mark Singer on January 01, 1970 at 00:00:00
I have had a few others ID this bird as a Myiarchus flycatcher. And, I am having problems with that. The bill is very wide towards the base in comparison to the bill length. In fact, it is a little less than half the length. In the photos of Myiarchus that I have seen, the width of the bill at the base appears to be a lot less than half the length. This bill appears to be large and not more delicate as I would expect in Myiarchus. The upper mandible is not decurved towards the tip. It does overlap the lower, but makes a sharp point with the lower when looking at it in profile. I have blown the photo up to verify this. Although color is not a great indicator, the lower bill appears to be the same color as the upper bill. However, in Myiarchus flycatchers, there is usually some orange in the lower mandible. If there was some orange it should show up as lighter areas in the lower mandible. There are no light areas in the lower mandible. Yes, I do realize we are not seeing the complete bill. The orange coloration is usually found closer to the origin of the bill and we cannot quite see all of it here. The color of the bird is also mostly uniformly black. Now that might be because of the angle of the shot and shadows. In post processing, I tried to bring out as much of the details as possible. I did not change any colors. If all of this can be explained away, I will accept that this is a Myiarchus flycatcher. In fact, I would take it as a Great Crested or a La Sagre's. In either case, that would be a life bird for me. I am not trying to be difficult, I am just trying to be sure. I am also sorry to say that this is the only photo I have of the bird. Other angles would have helped greatly in solving this puzzle.