Double Trouble SP 5/18--Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher

After making the usual stops on Mike's Birds of Jackson trip, I was torn between just going home or doing a little more birding. I decided to drive down to Waretown to see if I could find the Mississippi Kites that have returned (we're presuming the same birds) for what I think is the 4th year. Since its a residential neighborhood, I never feel comfortable standing at the intersection where the birds have been known to sit in a dead tree (now known as the "kite tree"), so I gave myself a time limit of 15 minutes. If no birds showed up in that period, I'd go. It's like a stop-loss when you buy a stock. 

I was into my 11th minute with only both vulture species seen flying overhead when an alert pinged on my phone--an Olive-sided Flycatcher had been found at Double Trouble SP.  If the kites follow their pattern from previous years, they'll still be there, tomorrow, next week, June. I have a decent chance of running into them. The flycatcher, on the other hand, was a much rarer bird, so I didn't bother waiting for my remaining 4 minutes to run out. 

Double Trouble is a just under 11 miles from Waretown and I made good time. The location on the first alert was a little vague--"the large open area"--but knowing the habits of these flycatcher, I presumed it was the former cedar forest that had been destroyed by Sandy where the damaged trees had been cut down and harvested. When I got to the park I met the two birders who'd found the bird, confirmed the location, saw his picture, and hustled down there. 

Naturally, the bird was not in sight. So I decided to give myself 15 minutes for this bird too. As it wasn't in the single dead cedar that inexplicably had been left standing, I walked the path a little farther down and saw, way in the back where the trees were still standing, a bird I was pretty sure was the flycatcher, atop a tree. I took pictures, looked hard with binoculars, saw the "unbuttoned vest" field mark on the chest, blew up the pictures on the view screen, and I was semi-confident I had the bird. Of course, I hadn't bothered to carry my scope out to there. 

The bird dived down into the bushes. A few minutes later, having walked back to the original position, I looked into the thin, dead cedar, and there was the bird again, with a much better view. I even saw it flash the white flank patch that is diagnostic.

I was really pushing my little camera taking these shots. Then the bird flew to the right into another tree in a stand that borders a marshy area where the Purple Trail runs. That's the picture on top of this entry. Having gotten all I could out of my camera and binoculars, I decided to walk the 1/2 mile back to the parking lot to get my scope. Returning, the bird wasn't in any of its previous locations. Again, I gave it 15 minutes to return. I even added on a bonus 5 minutes to make up for viewing the Prairie Warbler that alighted in the thin cedar for a while. However, the bird never returned. I was surprised to find that I was the only birder to try for it today. Where was everybody? 

I'm curious to see if this bird "sticks." Ones in recent years at Cloverdale Farm, haven't.