RARE BIRD ALERT: Fork Tailed Flycatcher

Located in the Golf Links in Potomac Park, Washington, D.C.

First, I hope you all have or have had a Happy Memorial Day. The weather here is not great for picnicking and having fun outside, but a break in the rain allowed us to chase after a RARE BIRD yesterday.

As you know, we follow the “Rare Bird Alerts” for our area which includes Maryland, DC and Virginia (and sometimes Delaware and Pennsylvania). We saw that a Fork Tailed Flycatcher was spotted in the DC area on Saturday. We did a little research, (according to eBird - the last time a Fork Tailed Flycatcher was spotted in the Maryland area was in 2021 - so it WAS possible) made sure it had been verified and planned our trip for Sunday. When we got there, we saw several people with scopes and long lenses on tripods set up. We knew we had to be at the right place. And, with a little help from birders (who generally tend to be VERY helpful when it comes to a Rare Bird), we found the beautiful Fork Tailed Flycatcher! (Look carefully and you can see its forked tail!)

Fork Tailed Flycatcher

This incredible bird was spotted at the far end of the Golf Links in Potomac Park - basically an island in the middle of the Potomac River with Reagan Airport on one side and the center of DC (think Washington Monument in view) on the other. It was hanging around in 2 huge mulberry trees at the far end of the golf course. (At least it will have a lot of food for a while with the berries and the bugs that they draw in!) There was a fence, but not so tall that we could not see over it, not allowing the birders to get close. You really needed a good amount of zoom to get a good photo (or even see it!) especially considering the branches and leaves. This bird (and its friends) were dealing with so many golf carts zipping by and airplanes going over - we were really surprised that all of the birds had not been chased away!

Fork Tailed Flycatcher

About the Fork Tailed Flycatcher - (source: All About Birds)

The Fork Tailed Flycatcher is a tropical kingbird native to Central and South America. They breed in southern South America (Argentina, Brazil) and winter farther north in their native areas.

This bird is sometimes a “vagrant” or rare visitor in coastal areas of North America.

They have an extraordinarily long tail, deeply forked. In males, the tail can reach up to 13-16” long. Females and juveniles have shorter, but still conspicuously long tails. (The birders we were talking to feel this bird is a juvenile and in its first migration.)

Because they migrate from southern South America to the tropics of southern Mexico, individuals occasionally get their navigation mixed up and end up far outside their normal range.

Fork Tailed Flycatcher

Birds have a built in compass for migration. It is thought that they use the stars, physical locations, etc. But sometimes they can be thrown off course - especially by weather. It is thought that many “vagrants” arrive in new locations because of something known as “drift migration”. They basically get caught in wind or a storm and let it take them where it may. Once they settle in, get a little nourishment, they get back on their way and ultimately end up where they had planned. We can learn a lot from them - any plan can be modified and turn out just fine! Pretty cool!

One last thing. The birder who first spotted this Forked Tail Flycatcher gets a great pat on the back. This bird looks a lot like an Eastern Kingbird (below). That was some wonderful spotting to see that this bird had a longer tail!!

Eastern Kingbird

Hope you have a safe and fun holiday and a great week ahead!

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