I think I’ve done it, and by “it” I mean devised an ID challenge so… challenging that even our audience won’t be able to crack it. We all know how difficult empids can be to identify. Now take a bird that may not even be an empid or even a flycatcher for that matter but still bears the hallmark inscrutability of the Empidonax tribe. Next, place the bird down in South America, far from most of our readers’ comfort zones. Last but not least, make the photo of the bird really dark and grainy! Excited yet?
But, as the title of this post proclaims, this ID challenge is a benevolent one. Identify this bird properly and you may be adding a species to my life list. Good luck!
small, drab bird spotted at Mangaloma Reserve in Ecuador
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
Is it an eastern pewee..?
Getting kind of a Vireo vibe from it… only bird that would remotely fit would be a Brown-capped Vireo though.
David, when we looked at it, pewee never came up. I’ll be embarrassed if this turns out to be a bird I see often. My impression, though, was that this bird was smaller and, if you can believe it, drabber.
BirdTrainerRobert, the bird didn’t have the markings of any vireo I can think of. Definitely not BCVireo but I’m open to other suggestions.
hm. the face really evokes yellow-rumped warbler. Probably my eyes playing tricks on me…
A bit of research shows a Vireonid called the Lesser Greenlet (Hylophilus decurtatus) that shows many of the features (or lack thereof) in the pictured bird, mainly the incomplete eyering/hint of spectacles and thick but a little stubby beak.
Certainly a Tyrannulet. I’ll go with Golden-faced….
Me also thinks Tyrannulet. What used to be Golden-faced and now called Choco Tyrannulet. Perfect jizz for that, and nothing that does not fit so far. Seeing some wing would help of course.