Robbie Fischer and I
decided to check for the Dusky-capped Flycatcher which had been seen for the last two weeks at Mason Regional Park
in Irvine. We arrived by the small bridge and riparian corridor at the southwest end of the park when I heard the
distinctive rising and falling whistled call of the Dusky-capped Flycatcher. I looked and saw it was Brian Daniels
who was covering the area for the Orange County Coastal Christmas bird count. However, the bird did call and eventually
we got great views of the bird. However it was foraging very actively and it was very difficult to digiscope. The
shots here are the best I could do, but they show the diagnostic rufous fringing on the secondaries and the gray
underside to the tail.
A small Myiarchus. In strong sunlight, the back was brown with strong olive-greenish cast contrasting
with a grayish nape and darker brown cap forming a short crest. The bill was 
fairly long and pointed, black in color. The eye was dark. The
throat, breast and side of the neck were gray. The belly was a fairly bright lemon-yellow. The tail was dusky above
with rusty edges to the bases of the outermost rectrices visible from above. From below the tail appeared entirely
gray. The primaries and secondaries were edged with rusty while the tertials were narrowly edged with whitish.
The tips to the wing-coverts were paler grayish-brown forming indistinct wing-bars. The feet were dark.
The most distinctive feature was the call which was given frequently. It was a clear breathy whistle rising and then falling, The bird foraged at medium elevations in the trees, but occasionally descended to the ground. The bird stopped to preen briefly when these photos were obtained.