Easington Collared Flycatcher

Two big Yorkshire rarities turned up during our Yorkshire Big Day attempt on 11th May. The first we were fortunate enough to connect with, a delightful female Collared Flycatcher at Easington Cemetery, whilst the second, a singing male Brown Shrike at Cowden, was tantalizingly close, but sadly just out of reach.

Collared Flycatcher is a first-class rarity and a spring male certainly takes some beating for handsomeness (and I do have a thing for black and white species...). The story of my first British Collared Flycatcher can be read here. This female was very enjoyable too, not least because it was a huge bonus bird for our Yorkshire Big Day but also because it is a potentially tricky identification, so getting some, albeit brief, experience with this species is always good. We were fortunate to arrive on site not too long after it had been identified and the little lady performed beautifully, flicking about in roadside trees and at one point descending to a puddle on the edge of the road.

Note the greyish collar and broad white primary patch almost reaching the wing-edge


I was sad not to have a longer look, but the Big Day called us away...