Mega! PACIFIC-SLOPE/CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER!

On Wednesday, November 18, a couple of birders in The Ramble found an empidonax flycatcher species in the Oven. It was a bright yellowish bird, so they assumed it was probably a very late Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher. Late empids are not unheard of in the east, as is for nearly every neotropical migrant. On Friday the 20th, the bird was seen again by some other birders, and they got better looks. They realized that the bird could very well be a 'Western' Flycatcher. This species is actually 2, which are Pacific-Slope and Cordilleran Flycatchers. This complex has only been seen an handful of times in the Northeast, and only once in New York. The prospect of this being another one sent dozens of local birders to set their alarms early the next morning to head out to find the bird. On Saturday morning, the bird was refound, and this time, people were able to keep track of the bird a lot of the time. When I got there at 10:15 am, there were already about 25 people there. Over the next hour I got good looks at the bird. It was bright and yellow, but looked like it had more yellow on it than a Yellow-Bellied. Additionally, the wingbars and eyering looked paler than they would for a Yellow-Bellied. On Monday, I got word that a birder got recordings of the bird's call the previous day. I listened to them, and they were a match. So that's that. I now have what is easily the rarest bird for my New York County year list, and my rarest bird for Central Park, New York's 2nd state record of PACIFIC-SLOPE/CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER!