Book review: Field Guide to North American Flycatchers

Often when I go to bird club meetings or find myself in the field hanging out with like-minded individuals, a not uncommon question may come up; usually it is some variation of "what is your favorite bird or what was your spark bird?"  It's a great question to break the ice and get to know who you are birding with.  When I was first asked this question my mind went blank.  My favorite bird?  It seemed important that I be able to answer this question but I couldn't think what my favorite might be.  So I answered with a sideways kind of answer; I picked a bird of my favorite color, Cerulean Warbler, and named it as my favorite.  I do like Cerulean warblers very much so my response was not a complete fabrication.  Now that I think of it, I have not seen one in a while and should make a special effort next migration season to make sure I do.  But my favorite?  

Had I responded that my favorite bird was the Least Flycatcher, I might have been closer to the truth.  I think the Empidonax group are interesting and thrilling birds to see and hear.  But as we all know, there is nothing easy about Empidonax flycatcher identification - especially the silent birds.  I'm well-acquainted with the eastern Empids, but the western birds are a completely different experience.  So when I learned of a new book about North American flycatchers I had to purchase it.  This is my review     

Field Guide to North American Flycatchers Empidonax and Pewees by Cin-Ty Lee and Illustrated by Andrew Birch.  Copyright © Princeton University Press.

This is a spectacular and astonishing little bird book, like none that I, at least, have ever seen.  At 157 pages long including bibliography, index and websites, this book covers all of the North American flycatchers in the most unique and clearest way possible.  The author and illustrator have written a completely novel kind of guide that addresses the differences of each species in eleven categories:  crown shape, forehead angle, bill length, lower mandible color, tail length, primary projection, eye-ring, etc., etc.  The book is attractive, well-organized, easy to read, easy to hold in your hands and take into the field.  Although it would be best to do your studying before going into the field.  The information is so thorough that the bird will definitely fly before you have time to thumb through the pages.  On the other hand, if you take photographs and have at least a couple of good photographic images, this book will go a long way to guiding you to an accurate identification.

Especially for Empidonax flycatchers most of us know which are most likely to appear in our regions.  In my midwest region these are the Least, Yellow-bellied, Alder, Willow and Acadian flycatchers.  I feel most comfortable identifying Least Flycatchers because during spring migration they are the most common and the most vociferous.  The Willow Flycatcher is a close second and it remains to nest through the summer and is not shy about vocalizing from an open perch.  Unless they are vocalizing, the remaining three are challenging for me to identify.  So far so good then for vocalizing males seen during spring migration.  But for silent birds, including females, and during fall migration, my confidence crumbles.  The book provides the identification tools to study the birds most likely to be in any area of the country.  For any given region, this usually is not an unreasonable number when learning about things like crown shape, forehead slope and the other field marks and fitting them all together.  

The Field Mark Matrix (page 43) is unlike any identification chart I have ever seen.

The Field Mark Matrix photo, taken with my camera, is mostly readable when enlarged.  Even un-enlarged, you get the idea.

The book also includes vocalization sonograms and verbal descriptions of the call note and song, thereby making it clear for birders who know the song by ear, but may not read music (I don't) to fully understand the sonogram.  Bird song and calls are one of my favorite parts of all birding, but critical for flycatchers.   

I'm not sure I have done a thorough justice to the field guide with this review.  The novelty and detail of the way information is presented, the beautiful illustrations, expansiveness of the comparisons and overall depth of the book are difficult to describe.  It is not the standard one page, one bird format.  

This past May I saw the Olive-sided Flycatcher twice, two weeks apart and at the same place, for the first time in many years.  Unfortunately, I didn't hear it vocalize; one of the most memorable vocalizations amongst North American birds.  I put Greater Pewee's vocalization in this same category.  Unmistakable and memorable.  Not as difficult as Empidonax flycatchers, but they are also covered in the book.  No matter where flycatchers fall on your list of favorite birds, whenever possible we all like to be correct with our identifications.