Id ?

[Chris Starbuck]

This bird was at the shore of Mono Lake, California in June 2005. My bird books don't cover western US species very thoroughly, and other than recognizing it as a flycatcher, I'm at a dead end.

Chris

[Dan Brown]

Hi Chris, this guy looks like a Say's Phoebe to me. I saw my first of the season Say's today in Sac! They winter here.

[John Chardine]

I agree with Dan, although never having seen this bird in the flesh, the field guides seem to be off. Sibley, which I consider the best available guide (not really field guide as it is a bit big) for North America shows this species with prominent black in the lores (area between beak and eye) and around eye, in both juvs and adults. Also, Sibley portrays the lower belly colour as a lot more vivid than in this very nice image.

[Chris Starbuck]

Thanks, guys! Now that I have an ID, two of my books do list this one. One has an illustration, the other a very small photo (the bird's about 1/2" long). I would never have picked it out based on the colors. If I crank up the saturation on my image by 50% (!) the colors start to look like the books. Could this be a juvy, or is my image just a bit flat (did no adjustments at all in post; just sharpened)? Too long ago for me to remember how I perceived the colors at the time.

[James Prudente]

Say's Phoebe, probably a young of the year bird.

Jim

[Aidan Briggs]

Definitly a say's phoebe