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IDENTIFICATION of the FLYCATCHERS of EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, with SPECIAL EMPHASIS on the GENUS EMPIDONAX by ALLA•,Rr

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IDENTIFICATION of the FLYCATCHERS of EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, with SPECIAL EMPHASIS on the GENUS EMPIDONAX by ALLA•,Rr BIRD-BANDING A JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION VoL. XXXVII JULY, 1966 No. 3 IDENTIFICATION OF THE FLYCATCHERS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE GENUS EMPIDONAX By ALLA•,rR. PmLL•s5 iII•s•LL A. How• •, Among eastern birds, the flycatchers are notoriously difficult to identify. Vague identifications or unqualified errors occur not in- frequently in the genus Empidonax, and we have personally seen bandersidentify wood peweesas Empidonacesand vice versa. Part of the problem lies in the fact that most of us are more familiar with birds in the field than we are with birds in the hand, where they give none of the behavioral clues that aid us in field identification. For this reason, banders have a special need for useful keys. But unfortunately the available texts and keys often lack vital informa- tion on when and where to expect a given species,and they com- monly neglect juvenal plumages and plumage sequences. Some keys in commonusage place undue emphasisupon single characters which, becauseof their variability, should only be used as cor- roborative evidence. A casein point is the often-quoted distinction between two groups of Empidonacesbased solely on back colora- tion, which has inadvertently led to the misidentification of some green-backed Traill's Flycatchers as Acadian Flycatchers. Banders should thus find useful a new key and summary of pertinent in- formation which coversall plumages of all eastern flycatchers, i.e. those speciesnormally found anywhere east of the Great Plains and north of southermnost Texas, and including those extralimital speciesfor which there are a number of specimens taken in the east. The nomenclature used is that of the A. O. U. Check-list of North American Birds (1957). The key emphasizescharacters visible in the living bird but not often mentioned in the literature, such as color of mouth lining, and also considersthe times and places where certain speciesare not to be expected. Its use requires no more than an accurate caliper and a millimeter ruler. With these aids, and a careful reading of all the characters,we believe that 98 per cent or more of all the full- grown birds netted can be readily keyed out, even in the difficult genusEmpidonax. •Instituto de Biologla, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de M•xico, M•xico, D. F., M•xico. •'Alfred University, Alfred, New York. aAmericanMuseum of Natural History, New York, New York. 153 154] A.R.Phillips, M. A. Howe,W. E. Lanyon Bird-BandingJuly Most of the key and the characters used therein were formulated by Phillips on the basisof a long-standinginterest in and experience with the special problems afforded by the flycatchers (Tyrannidae). From 1961 through 1965, the key was used by college under- graduatesparticipating in an ornithologicalresearch program at the American Museum of Natural History's Kalbfleisch Field Research Station at Huntington (Long Island), New York, under Lanyon's supervision. Special attention was given to its practicability in the identification of fall nilgrants and especially of Empidonax. In 1964 and 1965, Howe and Lanyon accumulated data on sexual dimorphism in Empidonax, through laparotomy of birds netted, banded,and later released. USE OF THE KEY Identifying flycatchersis tricky. Before trying, be sureyou under- stand how to use the key, how to take proper measurements,and above all what is and is not included in the key. Read it through several times to see how it works. In summer, the first point to check is always the bases of the shafts of the long wing and tail feathers--the "flight feathers". If all or nearly all of these flight feathers are enclosedin swollen, cylindrical sheaths at their bases, your bird is not fully grown and hence our key will not work. The young bird must normally be identified by the agitated parents that may try to rescueit. If only ce•'tainflight feathers are sheathed, and these are symmetrical in both wings or on both sides of the tail, your bird is an adult in normal molt, for immature flycatchers of those speciesthat occur regularly in eastern North America do not renew their flight feath- ers during their first summer or fall. A molting adult flycatcher, if it is smaller than a phoebe,is pretty surely an Acadian or a Yellow- bellied Flycatcher, for adults of the other small speciesnilgrate before they renew their flight feathers. There are two instances where the key does not distinguish species. (1) Eastern and Western Wood Peweesare keyed out to- gether, because they differ so slightly that many birds can not be identified without good comparativeseries of the two. Adult pewees become so faded and worn after June, in many cases,as to defy identification even in the museum. (2) No attempt is made to dis- tinguish the two song-typesof Traill's Flycatchers, which are prob- ably sibling species (Stein, 1963). If you are interested in these especially difficult problems of identification, see the "Comments on Species"that follow the key. If you think that your bird is not in the key or that it is of a specieswhich, according to the key, should not be in your area at that season,give seriousconsideration to preservingit for permanent study as a specimenin your local, state, or national museum. Re- member how infinitesimal are the chancesof a recovery of the band- ed bird, and even if you did get a miraculousreturn or recovery, it would be meaningless as long as there were any doubt as to the specific identification. On the other hand, if the bird is properly prepared for study, with the sex and age carefully determined and Vol. XXXVII 196(5 Identificationof theFlycatchers [155 the colorsof 'the mouth and other "soft parts" recorded, it will then be available for s'kudyby specialistsat any tirne. We particularly urge that any exceptionally late small flycatcher, i.e. af'ter early October in Canada or 'the nor'them United States and after early November farther south, be preserved. Such st.ragglersmay well include some western species. Permanent preservation of great rarities for your area is always highly desirable, especially where the speciesare hard to identify. For a key to the western speciesof Empidonax, seePhillips, Marshall, and 5Ionson (1964). Sirnplified terms have been used in the key in lieu of more cumbersome statements of stat.istical reliability, though we have included some s'tatistical treatments of mensural characters in the section following the key. Our term "nearly always" is roughly equivalent 'to the statement that "98 out of 100 individuals rnay be expected to be so characterized", and our term "usually" is roughly equivalen'tto the staternent that "85 out of 100 individuals may be expectedto be so characterized",based on the material analyzed. The following terms, arranged alphabetically, are used in the key. It is important to understandthem and to use them correctly. C•own-patch: an area of brightly-colored feathers in the center of the top of the head, usually concealedin life in our speciesthat have it. Eye-ring: complete, or nearly so, "ring" of contrastingly pale feathers borne around (just outside of) the fleshy eyelids. Formula B: see cornmeritsunder Wing shape. Mouth, color of: color of the inner surfacesof the upper and lower mandibles. P•'imaries: the long, outermost wing feathers, forming the tip of the wing; numbered frorn the inside out, with the outermost being number 'ten; see commentsunder Wing shape. Rectrices: the long feathers of the tail, cornprisingsix pairs in all (singular = rect•'ix). Sixth p,imary cut out: the outer web (leading edge) of the sixth primary (fifth from the outside) is emarginated like that of number seven,i.e. it narrows abruNly as illustrated in figure 1. To deter- mine this, the sixth primary should be drawn back gently and pressed lightly against the seventh primary for comparison. In some individuals, an intermediate category rnay be necessary, which we call sixth primaw slightlycut out; here, the emargination is only barely discernible but nevertheless appears to be real. Oc- casionally the effect of slight emargination is an artifact due to an abnormal arrangernent of the feather barbs. Sixth primary not cttt out: the outer web of the sixth primary is normal, even, not emarginatedas describedabove, being in direct contrast with the condition illustrated by the seventh primary in this respect (fig. 1). 156] A. R. Phillips,M. A. Howe,W. E. Lanypn Bird-BandingJuly Fzo.1. Someprimaries from the right wingsof Empidonaxflycatchers, illus- trgtingterms used in the key that referto the extentof emarginationof the sixthprimary. Compgrisonof the leadingedge of the sixthprimary with that of the seventhprimary (whichis alwayscut out) will facilitatethe selec- tion of the appropriate term. Sixth Primary Not Cut ()ut as in E. trailIll, E. virescens, and some E. fiavivent•is Sixth Primary Slightly Cut Out as in someE. minimus and someE. fia•iventris Sixth Primary Cut ()tit as in most E. minimus and some E. fiaw'ventris Vol. XXXVII1900 Identificationof theFlycatchers [157 2. Differeucesin wing shape in Empidonax flycatchers,as determined by the relative lengthsof the longestprimaries when the wing is held in a closed positionalongside the bird's body. Formula B is the distancebetween the tip of the sixth primary and the tip of the longestprimary. FORMULA B Rounded Wing of Pointed Wing of E. miniruns, in which the loth primary E. virescens,in which formula B is is usually equal to or shorter than the usually 6.0 mm. or more 5th (as illustrated above) and of and of E. traillit, in which formula B is usually E. fiaviventris, which has the 10th less than 6.0 mm. primary usually equal to or longerthen the 5th, but in which formula B is In both of these species,the 10th pri- usually 5.0 mm.
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