Date:         Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:23:28 -0400
Reply-To:     Ken Blankenship <kenhblankenship@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Ken Blankenship <kenhblankenship@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Cochran Shoals Report 8/29/08

Rachel and I met up with Nathan Farnau for some late-afternoon birding at
The Shoals yesterday. The most interesting bird for us was a WILLOW/ALDER
FLYCATCHER found at the back of the sparrow field working the small
sapling box elder trees along with a family of EASTERN PHOEBES. Nathan
first noticed that among all the darting, fly-catching birds there was a
bird with wing bars and we both knew it must be an Empid. With some
persistence, we found the bird and were able to watch it long enough to
see that it had a very hard-to-distinguish eye ring and was plain gray
with no greenish or yellowish tones, clean white throat, grayish sides of
the breast with white in the middle. I felt strongly that it was a Willow
Flycatcher, but despite playing both that sp. and Alder Flycatcher on the
iPod, the bird made not a peep and I dare not make an assumption when
these two can even be difficult to ID in the hand if they are not calling.
It was chased several times by the Phoebes and we were quite impressed
with how it held its ground and fended off the agressors. Later, we saw a
virtually identical bird working the willows in the swamp/marsh between
the sparrow field and the trail, which may have been the same bird.

DCCO Double-crested Cormorant 1
GBHE Great Blue Heron 3
YCNH Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
SPSA Spotted Sandpiper 2
CHSW Chimney Swift 8
RTHU Ruby-throated Hummingbird 8
BEKI Belted Kingfisher 2
RHWO Red-headed Woodpecker 1
PIWO Pileated Woodpecker 1
EAWP Eastern Wood-Pewee 1  (FOTS)
Empidonax sp. (E. traillii/E. alnorum) 1-2
EAPH Eastern Phoebe 4
GCFL Great Crested Flycatcher 1
EAKI Eastern Kingbird 2  (FOTS)
REVI Red-eyed Vireo 2
HOWR House Wren 1
BGGN Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8
EABL Eastern Bluebird 2
GRCA Gray Catbird 1
PIWA Pine Warbler 1
BAWW Black-and-white Warbler 1
COYE Common Yellowthroat 3
HOWA Hooded Warbler 1
SOSP Song Sparrow 3
AMGO American Goldfinch 7


Ken Blankenship
Marietta, GA (Cobb County)
http://www.wingsoverga.com

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