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Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Patriot's Point



This morning (9-11), there were more good insectivores at Patriot's Point in Mount Pleasant, SC.  The best was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher!  Burton Moore and I got stellar looks from about 15-18 feet at waist level as it perched on some vine-covered brush under a power line right-of-way amid a flock of warblers and White-eyed Vireos.  By the time Burton & I departed, David Chamberlain had arrived and saw the bird's back/upperparts as it flitted in the midlevel canopy.  David and Murray (sorry I forgot last name) were staying to try and get better views. I hope they were successful.

Here's some of what we saw:

Black Terns - 3 (over a pond on the golf course)
Least Sandpiper - 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1
Great Horned Owl - 1
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER - 1
Great Crested Flycatcher - 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 24+
Red-eyed Vireo - 15
White-eyed Vireo - 8-10
BLUE-WINGED WARBLER - 2 (same field of view at one point)
Prothonotary Warbler - 1
N. Parula - 8
Black-and-white Warbler - 3
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Prairie Warbler - couple dozen
Palm Warbler - 2
Yellow Warbler - 12-15
Am. Redstart - dozens
N. Waterthush - 2
Common Yellowthroat - couple dozen

The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was a small Empid that was green above, with a slightly rounded crown that was not peaked or angled.  The head looked somewhat big for the bird's body compared to Acadian or Willow/Alder.  The bird's bill looked small for the head; much smaller than an Acadian's bill/head ratio.  The belly/flanks were yellow and the throat was a dingy yellow-gray (not the pale whitish yellow of Acadian).  There was olive coloring across the breast and the yellow on the flanks/belly met the olive with no white in-between.  The supraloral area was small and only a hint yellower than the surrounding greenish face, unlike the larger more contrasting supraloral of an Acadian or the grayer supraloral of a Willow.  The eye ring was conspicuous but narrow and was the same width all around.

The YB Flycatcher was about halfway down the right of way behind the pumphouse that is on the left just past the Hilton entrance.  

Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC