Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Fork-tailed Flycatcher Report (belated)

I just received a report of a Fork-tailed Flycatcher seen briefly but well, and well-described, by Tom and Kristen Virzi on Saturday 4/12/08 as it flew over the hawk watch platform at Cape May Point State Park around 5:00 p.m.

Tom (who teaches ornithology at Rutgers) sends the following:
"My wife and I both saw it very well, it flew directly over our heads (fairly low) while we walked on the boardwalk by the hawk watch.....at around 5:00pm(?) after it cleared a little on Saturday. . .

" There was one other person who identified it as a fork-tailed as well, a 6 or 7-year old girl. Its a funny story, she was a really good birder....we had run into her and her grandparents earlier and were amazed at what she was able to identify. After we saw the flycatcher, we passed them again and she was trying to convince her grandparents that she saw a fork-tailed flycatcher. We let them know we had just seen one and they were shocked. I asked how she knew what it was and she replied, 'I memorized all the birds in my book.' Funny, huh."

Interestingly, I also learned second hand that another couple (names not known) reported seeing a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (not Fork-tailed) the same day and place.

No reports since.

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