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Articles

Vol. 9 No. 3 (1978)

NOTES: A PROBABLE NUTTING’S FLYCATCHER IN SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO

Submitted
September 1, 2025
Published
July 1, 1978

Abstract

Early in the afternoon of 18 December 1976 Marian Zimmerman and I closely observed a Myiarchus flycatcher, which we believe was a Nutting’s Flycatcher (M. nuttingi), in the Gila River Valley, approximately 10 km downstream from Riverside, Grant County, New Mexico. Normally, no species of Myiarchus occurs in this area during late autumn or winter. The bird was small, with a conspicuously rufous tail and primaries, the latter showing as a prominent reddish streak on the closed wing. The bill was small for the genus and not especially broad. The chin and throat were so pale as to appear white; the breast was pale gray, contrasting with a rather bright yellow belly, the intensity of the color doubtless due in part to the bird’s very fresh plumage. Its inner remiges were widely edged with whitish, showing no signs of wear. Similarly, the rectrices were broadly white- or whitish-tipped.

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