Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher

Dear blogger friends,  today is the last of the Ramsey canyon adventure.  But I'm sure we'll be visiting again soon considering this is a hummingbird magnet....and is VERY VERY cool compared to the Madera Canyon craziness.   But I think this post sums up why I bird.  Today I discovered a new bird to add to my list.  It's a lifer and I hope I've captured the magic of this event.  This is what Las Aventuras is all about.  Today I present to you all the Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher!

A rare bird to find in the US but one of the signature birds of Ramsey Canyon.  It's one of the very few places you can spot this fascinating bird.  AND it's as unique as the Elegant Trogon.  So today we have found ourselves with a jewel of a post.  I would click on the pics to make them bigger. The ears picked up on something and then my eyes caught yellow splashes up in the large Sycamore trees. I had noticed some weird flight pattern going on.   We stopped to watch and as we did I was shocked by what these adults were doing from their nest. 

Every two minutes, the parents would enter this nest high up.  As they did, they would feed their kiddos and then "shoot" like a cannonball out of the hole.  Drop down.   And fly off.  The photography was tricky so I observed their flight patterns several times to track and guess how and when they'd shoot out of the nest.

The most distinguishing characteristics of this flycatcher are the heavy streaking of its plumage, and its pale yellow belly. The bird also shows a rusty brown tail, and a black eyestripe. Its call sounds like noises made by children's or pet's 'squeaky-toys'.  And this is the important part of identifying the bird on a trail.....listening for a squeaky toy.  That's what caught my attention in the first place and helped me close in on the activity.

In and out they went.....

....in a very graceful pattern......

.....and then they'd "shoot" out of their "canon" and drop down.....

.....and fly to a tree while the other parent went to check them out.  A minute would pass and the younglings would call out and the parents would return....repeating the routine.

Our Wisconsin adventures begin tomorrow:)