Bird sighting at Corkscrew swamp sparks debate: Is it a Hammond's or a Least?
Karl SchneiderA rare sighting brought a flock of birders from around the state to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County this week.
Early Thursday morning, about 20 people were standing on a boardwalk in the sanctuary. Some held binoculars, others hefted cameras with giant lenses, but all were hoping for a glimpse of the bird.
At the focal point: a flycatcher. Specifically, a Hammond’s flycatcher, or actually, maybe it’s a Least flycatcher. Experts and hobbyists are locked into a debate on which species of flycatcher is visiting while they gather photographic and audio evidence. Either way, the bird in question is a rarity for Southwest Florida.
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“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these birders because it’s not going to happen again,” said Steve Parker, spokesperson for the sanctuary. If the bird is a Hammond's flycatcher, it would be the third documented sighting in the state.
In the winter months, the range of Hammond’s flycatchers stretches from northern Nicaragua up through north western Mexico. In spring and summer months, the birds migrate north through west Texas, up through the Pacific northwest all the way to the arctic circle in Alaska — rarely coming closer than 1,000 miles to Florida.
Least flycatchers have similar winter ranges but tend to stay in the northern United States in the warmer seasons.
On the sanctuary’s boardwalk, most are hoping the bird is a Hammond’s flycatcher, but Corkscrew volunteer and boardwalk naturalist Keith Johnson is skeptical.
Pulling out his cellphone, Johnson compared images of from the internet and images he captured of the flycatcher at the sanctuary. He zoomed in on the eye-ring — a circle of white-colored skin surrounding the eye — and played “spot the difference.”
“See here, the Least’s eye-ring is more round and the Hammond’s is kind of teardrop shaped,” he said. “The literature will tell you it is very difficult to distinguish. Each has a very distinct song, but this isn’t a good time of year to hear them.”
Flycatchers sing more in the warmer months, when they are looking for mates and defending territory.
Even if the bird is a Least and not a Hammond’s, Johnson said it would be unusual to see it at Corkscrew. Most of the birders though, will mark the bird down as Hammond’s for now.
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The flycatcher-in-question made brief appearances throughout the morning. Staying in one spot only minutes at a time.
“Is that it?” one birder asked the others.
“No, that’s a black-and-white warbler,” came the response.
A titmouse, a black-throated green, a red-bellied woodpecker and a purple gallinule — all kinds of birds made an appearance while the birders were looking for the elusive Hammond’s flycatcher.
“I lost track of him with all these other birds,” said a woman scanning the swamp with large binoculars.
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Bill Pranty, the Christmas Bird Count’s regional editor in Florida, joined the crowd with all his attention on the foliage.
Pranty, who came down from the Tampa area, wrote the book on birding in Florida.
When he first arrived on the boardwalk, he suspended his judgment on whether the flycatcher really was a Hammond’s. With hands behind his ears to try and pick up on the bird’s voicings, he said, “I’ll wait until I see it.”
Back in November, someone had posted a picture of a flycatcher to a Facebook group dedicated to rare sightings in Florida. The post described the bird as a Least flycatcher, but Pranty thought it looked more like a Hammond’s. It was too colorful and the eye-ring was wrong, he said.
After more and more pictures started showing up in the group and the Hammond’s flycatcher was added to the lists of birders, Pranty decided to see for himself.
Pranty noticed the bird’s tail tipping up.
“Most flycatchers tip their tails down,” he said. “This could be a Hammond’s, but the voice is the main way of distinguishing the species. So much of birding is hearing the birds.”
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A popular website for birders, eBird, has six “confirmed” sightings of the Hammond’s flycatcher at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary dating Jan. 10 -16. Included with these records are seven recordings, uploaded to show the sonogram of the call.
All the evidence birders have collected so far will be sent to a state ornithological committee for verification. The Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee votes once a year in August.
Until then, birders on the swamp’s boardwalk will continue to collect evidence and debate the true species of the bird.
Pranty’s final verdict: “It looks more like a Hammond's than before.”
Karl Schneider is an environment reporter. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @karlstartswithk, email him at kschneider@gannett.com
