Date: 6/9/25 7:08 am From: Ted Floyd <tedfloyd73...> Subject: [cobirds] Great Crested Flycatcher, Greenlee Wildlife Preserve, Boulder Co., June 8–9
Hey, all.
Shortly after Hannah Floyd and I got in yesterday evening, Sun., June 8,
from the most excellent Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO) annual meeting
in Grand Junction, I took a quick walk down to Greenlee Wildlife Preserve,
Lafayette, Boulder Co., and what did I hear in the tall shade trees near
the intersection of Salina & South Fork but a *great crested flycatcher.*
It's ironic: On the CFO field trip to the Colorado National Monument that
Hannah and I and Cary Atwood led earlier in the day yesterday, we all got
to enjoy ash-throated flycatchers, in the same genus as the great crested
flycatcher, aplenty, and we talked about how, while it's nice to look at
*Myiarchus* flycatchers, nothing beats listening to them.
Then, this Mon. morning, June 9, whilst settling down at the desk, what
should I hear in the big ole shade tree out front but a great crested
flycatcher. This time, I had the phone nearby, so I pointed it out the open
window and got a perfectly diagnostic spectrogram of the flycatcher's
spectrographically unique call:
[image: GCFL.png]
Note the tripartite spectrographic signature, unmistakably recalling the
insignia of the Klingon Empire:
1–a steadily rising whistle through the 2K band. 2–a sharp spike from 3K to
5K. 3–a whistle falling fairly fast through the 2K band. These three
elements create the *wheeEEP!* mnemonic known to any birder who's ever
wandered the Eastern broadleaf forest in summer.
Another irony. Or good timing. Or something. Remember that guy's
presentation at the Sat., June 7, afternoon science session at the CFO
annual meeting? ;-)
tl; dr– Just press the red button on your phone, make a quick-and-dirty
sound spectrogram, and it's off to the races.
As to seeing the bird, good luck with that. I caught the briefest glimpse
of a largish bird in the treetops, a plausible *Myiarchus*. Based on my
encounters yesterday evening and this morning, I would say that it calls
for a few minutes at a time, then falls silent. Pretty typical of great
crested flycatchers in my experience. I guess you could walk up and down
South Fork Dr., especially around the intersection with Salina St. And I
wouldn't be surprised at all if the bird makes its way down to the preserve
proper; it's nicer down there anyhow. ;-)
If you stay in the neighborhood, be mindful of, and respectful toward, the
gendarmes and, much more so, the punctilious HOA inspectors, who patrol the
mean streets of the subdivision looking to write up citations for the
little girls drawing blue unicorns and pink fairies with water-soluble
sidewalk chalk.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
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