NC Rare Bird Alert: Update on the Pacific-slope Flycatcher at the Buckhorn Resivour

By Sally Siko

A couple days ago I shared some photos of what I thought was a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
I’d mentioned in that post that this bird is very very similar genetically to the Cordilleran Flycatcher.
In fact the two species are so closely related and easily mistaken for one another that I told ya that I’d provide an correction if my species assessment was proven incorrect.
Well here’s an update on this finding!

I’ve been keeping an eye on the N.C. eBird rare bird report all week and have noticed that the big brains over at Cornell had not verified ANYONES submission of the bird in question being a Pacific-slope Flycatcher!
That includes a huge amount of listings with observation details & great photos too.
I thought this was a bit weird so I reached out to some of my fellow birders (far smarter than I) and learned the following…

One- Unfortunately the only way to definitively ID this bird is either by measuring in hand or by DNA sample.
Photos and playback call response are meaningless.

Two- Luckily fecal samples from this Flycatcher at the Buckhorn Reservoir, were collected (thank you to whomever was smart enough to collect the bird’s poop!) earlier this week and taken to the N.C. Museum of Science for assessment.

Three- It is best (IMO) to list this bird as a Pacific-slope/Cordilleran Flycatcher (Western Flycatcher) on eBird at this time until the results of the DNA test come back.
Since I can’t say for certain what kind of bird that Flycatcher is, I have changed my tick from Pacific-slope to the more ambiguous description of Western.
Time will tell how that shakes out 😉

Four- North Carolina birder Andrew Thornton is a good dude.
As demonstrated in the conversation which I’ve shared here, he is supremely helpful when it comes to assisting others to bird with integrity.
I think that’s pretty cool 🙂

Going forward, I’ll keep ya posted on what this bird turns out to be either way.
Thanks to everyone out there who’s been following along on this journey.
Happy birding my friends!
-Sally