Stacy Mote of Phenix City, Alabama is an environmental consultant that gets to bird for a living (lucky!) but she spends time off-duty as a weekend warrior scouting out local birding hotspots. As a birder, she tells us, you can never stop learning! Here, she shares photos of her first dramatic sighting of a gorgeous North American Myiarchus flycatcher…

Great Crested Flycatchers are typically elusive birds that stay in the top of the canopy. Imagine my surprise to have one “drop in” for a visit. I was sitting on my couch relaxing this past weekend when I heard a light tap coming from what I thought was my door. When I went to open the door I witnessed this little guy fluttering in front of my window. I couldn’t immediately ID it so I ran for my camera. The bird flew up to a telephone line a few feet from the window and kept turning its head sideways. It flew towards the window two additional times (plus the small oval window above my door) and gently pecked the glass. I assume it thought it’s reflection was a rival male and he was trying to chase it off. I was afraid it would eventually ram the glass harder so I stepped in front of the window and it flew into the top of my pecan tree. I have only heard a Great Crested Flycatcher before so I was overjoyed to have gotten a visual!

Appearance

Approach

Attack!