Ash-throated Flycatcher Breakfast

The short whistle of the Ash-throated Flycatcher, kind of like an old-time police whistle, is always a welcome sign of spring. These elegantly feathered members of the Myiarchus family of flycatchers arrive in Southern Humboldt in April from as far away as Mexico to raise a family and then return south for the winter. This year they seem to be doing quite well as I have seen numerous family units along the river and at the local community park.

Ash-throateds are cavity nesters, and take advantage of human made cavities as well as natural ones. From hatching to fledging takes about two weeks. The other day I got to see a parent feeding her fledgling an insect resembling a grasshopper. If you walk on the river in the summer you have no doubt seen these common bugs, rather drab on the outside, but when they fly, a striking pattern, not unlike that of a Mourning Cloak butterfly, is revealed in a flash. (My best guess is Carolina Grasshopper, but I would be happy to be corrected.)