Date: 11/19/24 9:23 am From: Christopher Hill (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Wintering Empidonax - site faithful?
I know that
- Empidonax in winter in the Carolinas attract attention because the chances of a western vagrant are high
- some prior vagrants have remained at the same spot for months. They seem to settle in on a winter territory.
What I don't recall is whether there are birds that have returned for multiple winters to the same spot. I figure asking people in this group for their recollections is quicker than trying to figure it out by searching ebird. (I did search ebird for Empidonax sp. and for Least Flycatcher, but there are lot more I didn't search on).
I ask because this morning John Hutchens and I found an Empidonax at Lake Busbee in Conway, SC, probably less than a hundred yards from where there was a well-photographed winter Empidonax* in winter 2021-2022 and another(?) last winter. Is it all the same bird? From ebird, here are the dates:
Winter 21-22: late November 17-Feb 19th.
Winter 22-23: January 29-30.
Winter 23-24: no records
Winter 24-25: seen today, Nov 19th.
All in the same 100 yard stretch.
There's lots of habitat here - it's a drained and reclaimed shallow cooling pond/lake, so wet and flat and grown up in cattail and willows, a mile across, and much of that area is inaccessible by foot. It is very plausible that a bird could have wintered here in 2023-4 but been out of sight of the walking path.
I guess the other possibility is that there are more wintering Empidonax out there than I know of, and three different birds in the same spot is just a bit of coincidence. But I don't see a lot on the ebird map when I restrict records to Nov through Feb.
Maybe I should have captured and banded it in 2021 as people were suggesting at the time!
CH
*I have it on my ebird checklist as a Least, though most people, and the eBird reviewers, preferred to leave it as Empidonax sp. This is the bird that many people thought fit Hammond's until we got recordings of the call.
Chris Hill, Ph.D.
Professor
Biology Department
Coastal Carolina University
Office: Douglas 207H
(843) 349-2567
email: <chill...>
