Date: 1/8/26 12:06 pm From: Adam Winer via groups.io <awiner...> Subject: [SFBirds] Vermilion Flycatcher is now "easy"
This has been noted in a variety of forums and forms, but for those who have overlooked it: the Vermilion Flycatcher found by Kevin Liberg at the Candlestick "back lot" - https://ebird.org/hotspot/L1060089 - appears to now be relatively easy to chase. We just didn't know where to look.
In previous appearances, it's been reported moving rapidly around the coyote bush in the field north of Carroll, then (frustratingly) disappearing. One wouldn't think a bright red bird that likes to perch atop poles and bushes would be hard to relocate, and yet that's what it's been doing.
Tuesday morning, I arrived at the site a little before 11am and - as anticipated - was told by Nico Stuurman I'd just missed the bird. *But *this time Nico had noticed that the flycatcher had seemingly departed to the southwest! Armed with that info (thank you Nico!), and after some exploration, I was able to find the flycatcher foraging in the former Alice Griffith housing project site. This site is entirely fenced in, and is not open to the public, but if you climb to the top of the slope on the south side of Carroll Ave, west of its intersection with Giants Drive (roughly around 37.720452, -122.385613), you can look through the fence and (with some patience) see the flycatcher. Please mind your footing!
With continued sightings at various hours of the day on the two days since, I strongly suspect that the bird, first reported on October 9 in 2025, has in fact spent the entire winter in this spot. It's even possible that this is the same bird as the one-day wonder from December 2, 2024, and it's spent two winters here. The site looks like an interesting one for rarities, at least until its future development.
