This interesting Mexican flycatcher was found in the backyard of Rick and Barbara Linzer in Santa Cruz on 1 Jan 2003 by Michelle Scott. As I understand the story, it was thought to be a rare Myiarchus, possibly a Dusky-capped Flycatcher M. tuberculifer; Steve Gerow and Madeline Spencer went the next day to confirm the identification. Steve Gerow took some excellent field notes and noted a number of problems for Dusky-capped Flycatcher, including a wheet call, paler-edged secondaries than the rusty-edged primaries, the tail pattern, and the fact that the bird was eating olives. After an email exchange that evening, arrangements were made for a few of us (Gerow, David Suddjian, Joe Morlan, Robbie Fischer, Dan Singer, Rita Carratello and me) to visit the private residence the next morning (3 Jan) to follow up on the possibility this might be a Nutting's Flycatcher M. nuttingi. This is what it proved to be; primary credit, then, should go to Michelle Scott and Steve Gerow.

The bird appeared briefly at 8:30 a.m. on 3 Jan (before Rita and I arrived) and did not reappear until 12:30 p.m., by which time Steve and David had left. Once the flycatcher reappeared in its favorite olive tree, though, we were able to study it off and on over the next half-hour, and obtain excellent views and many photographs and video. We were able to meet with Rick Linzer, the homeowner at 1425 Laurel where the bird was first found, and make arrangements for future visitors. The bird eventually crossed the street for additional close views, before flying off on an apparent circuit elsewhere in the residential neighborhood. Some key points noted were:

• a smallish Myiarchus, perhaps the size of a phoebe, but larger than experiences with Dusky-capped Flycatcher yet it seemed smaller than an Ash-throated Flycatcher to me (obviously, neither around for comparison)
• a distinctive sharp, short, pwik call, given often when it was vocalizing, sometimes could be rendered as wick!  This call is more like the wheet! calls of some larger Myiarchus (e.g., Brown-crested) than the mournful peeer of Dusky-capped, but was closer to a cross between Downy Woodpecker and Least Flycatcher (i.e., between a pik and a whit) than to any Myiarchus call that I know
• bright orange mouth-linings, seen when eating olives (when bill closed a thin pinkish strip is present at the gape)
• the fact it was eating olives (although I understand it did eat some insects later in the day)
• a bill shape unlike the other Myiarchus under consideration, being rather short and thick, rather than long and thin like Dusky-capped. This short bill gives an entirely different jizz to the bird, not heavy-billed like larger Myiarchus. It also means that although the bird seems short-tailed at close range, at longer range it looks longish-tailed because of the short bill
• the classic wing-panel pattern that we learned from the Arizona and Orange County birds: bright rusty edges to primaries, contrasting with lemon-yellow edges to the outermost secondaries (these were more orangey-yellow at their base), and then cream-colored edges to inner secondaries and tertials. Tertial edges were crisply defined and some were quite broad, particularly the innermost (uppermost on the closed wing). There were times, however, when the tertials were held in such a manner as to cover the outer secondary edges, and in that situation the yellow "mid-panel" was hidden
• broad, and well-defined, creamy upper wingbar (tips of median coverts); lower wingbar (tips of greater coverts) less defined but present
• classic tail pattern, seen from below, with outer rectrix brown, that color extending to tip of outer web and across the vane to merge with bright rusty inner web, with the rusty color of the inner web extending all the way to the tip of the rectrix (i.e., the brown tip to outer web does not curl across to the entire tip of inner web, as it does on Ash-throated Flycatcher)
• pale grayish-white breast and sides of head, contrasting with bright yellow belly/undertail coverts, all contrasting with pale brownish back, nape, and crown (like all Myiarchus, the crown feathers were raised when the bird was excited or agitated)
• rusty-edged uppertail coverts

Below are three stills from Rita's video that were posted the first evening. They show some (but not all) of the useful characters for identification.

I now have my slides back (upper right shot on this page, and those following, all © 2003 Don Roberson). These next two shots show many of the key identification points for Nutting's Flycatcher, including the tail pattern with the rusty inner web extending to the tip (left). The full-frame shot (right) shows well some details of the upperwing coverts but note that in this pose the tertials are held drooping and covering the key 'mid-panel' character.

Nutting's Flycatcher is found from central Sonora, Mexico, south to northwestern Costa Rica (AOU Check-list, 7th ed.). It is generally considered primarily a Mexican species and had been thought to be resident, although obviously there is some movement that is not yet well understood. There are three previous records for the United States:

• 8 Jan 1952 Roosevelt Lake, Arizona (specimen collected)
• 14 Dec 1997-21 Mar 1998 Patagonia Lake State Park, Arizona; a color photo of that bird appears on the cover of Field Notes, Vol. 52, No. 2 (1998)
• 11 Nov 2000-26 Mar 2001 Irvine, Orange Co., California; a color photo appears on the cover of Western Birds, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2001)

We are grateful to those who reported this interesting bird, and to the homeowners Rick & Barbara Linzer. Additional details and excellent photos are available on Joe Morlan's web page for this bird, and he has links there to yet other photographic documentation.

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