Number 30

I am currently in the sweet spot so to speak. The mental and physical stress of the annual Haunted Trail event has passed for the most part along with yesterday’s final taper run before the ultra race, means a good rest is at hand. The full fretting on the upcoming race hasn’t set in yet giving me a rare moment of calm my body badly needs. Taking it really easy for the next few days in hopes of getting some of the tweaks, twinges and dings to subside to put me in the best condition to battle the trail – the trail adage holds, you just need to get to a point where the entire body hurts as much as the individual angry parts and then you can transition to the mental part of the task. I’ve never forgotten the wisdom a good friend passed on to me many a year ago – “Equilibrium is the secret to success – if you injure your hand, just smack the other with a hammer and carry on”. That may say more about me and the friends I keep than their “wisdom” ha. The good news is there is time to get a post (and maybe more than one) out during this rare moment of relative stillness. To kick that off, here is today’s featured feathered friend.

Any guesses on an ID before you hit the jump – hint, this is the first time this species has been featured here at Intrigued.

Yep, this is a +1 for the blog and with the exception of a surprise find while digging into the spoils of a previous Texas trip, this is by far, the best looks to date of this long bodied Flycatcher.

Unfortunately, “best looks” does not always translate into “best shots” and that is clearly the case here. Absolute apologies on technical execution and limited angles here. It was clear from the onset of hearing this specimen’s slurry of twills coming from the low tree canopy that it was going to be a battle to get anything in the tin. Many of you already know, big glass and lots of foliage is a definition for frustration. Just getting eyes on it felt like a high degree of success. Note, while here will mention that bug on the limb just below the Flycatcher in the above shot was living on borrowed time!

I suppose simply stating that this is a Flycatcher is insufficient to properly identify this particular species – there are 33 members in the Tyrant Flycatcher (Tyrannidae) family. I am proud to state I have spotted and photographed 30 of those now with the addition of this one – the Ash-Throated Flycatcher. For those keeping score the Buff-Breasted, Brown-Crested (may actually have this from our last trip to Arizona – more to come) and the Gray Kingbird (3 failed attempts to date) all remain unchecked on the life list.

Taking a quick step back, this series of the Ash-Throated come courtesy of our Arizona trip back in March of 2025 (trust me, I get enough grief from the Intrigued family on my backlog). In particular, our first stay at Patagonia Lake State Park (link here). This “was” in my top 5 places to bird up until this year’s visit a few months back. There is a network of birding trails at the far end that were absolutely incredible on this first visit. Not sure how many hours it took, but I walked every inch of those trails and the numerous lifers was amazing. Jump forward to our latest visit where their trails were completely overgrown and even impassible in a few spots. I don’t mind some level of growth, but when you struggle to see any part of the ground…in Snake country – hard pass – I’ve learned my lesson when out alone. Based on this latest experience, tough to recommend it to others until I’ve verified it was an anomaly and not the new norm. If you do plan to go there, let me know as I eventually found a better path that takes you up to the high ground for some spectacular views (less birds though).

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s focus back on this slender Flycatcher. As far as the Tyrant family goes, there are 4 similarly long and high-crested members – the Dusky-Capped, Brown-Crested, the more pervasive Great-Crested and our feature variety here. The Dusky-Capped is the most regionally constrained preferring to hang out in southeast Arizona/northwest New Mexico during the breeding season followed by the Brown-Crested which extends Dusky-Capped breeding range into southern Texas. Great-Crested breeding pretty much ranges the entire eastern half of the US with a narrow push into Canada. We are privileged to have easy access to the Great-Crested in our own woods. The Ash-Throated ranges roughly from the Great-Crested western boundary to the coast preferring to avoid the most northern states. They definitely overlap with the Dusky-Capped and Browns and even have a non-breeding regional carve out in eastern Arizona. Will state for the record that we have been to Nevada many times and never spotted an Ash-Throated on any of those trips

Yikes, out of shots, need to get you some more detailed specifics for the Life List check. In what seems like a rare occurrence these days, the name seems appropriate for field characteristics of this Flycatcher. They do indeed have an ash colored throat. I thought at first Grey-Throated Flycatcher would have worked just fine, but then noticed the Dusky-Capped, Brown and Great all have grey tones. Like all four of the “Crested” named Flycatchers they do have a high peaked crest. The feature I most admire on these particular Flycatchers is the rufous patch on their wings. The buffy/yellowing on their breast really helps to set off that wing highlight. What you cannot tell from these shots – entirely my fault – is they have a similar rufous coloring on the middle of their undertail. The transition from their ashen faces, their lighter colored throats that gives way to yellowing on their underbellies to then the rich brown towns on their undertails makes them more apt for an air conditioned art gallery than the desert landscapes they prefer to hang out in.

In closing, if you are hunting for this species, head out early in the morning. As soon as dawn hits they become quite the chatterbox – Cornell references it as a “ka-brick” sounding call – feel free to check out their sound tab to have a listen for yourself (link here). They will quiet down as the morning sun becomes more intense. Finally, no need to focus your search near streams etc. as the Ash-Throated gets all of its fluid needs from the insects it consumes – a common characteristic of primarily desert inhabitants.

Oh, one last thing, I did provide you a number of shots here to demonstrate Cornell’s astute description – “This genteel Flycatcher tips its head side to side with seeming curiosity while perched among low oaks and mesquite trees” – nailed it!

Take care everyone, hope you enjoyed this look at a new Flycatcher for the blog!