Yesterday, June 15th, I embarked on a birdtography adventure in Perry County, Ohio, where I encountered a fascinating bird: the willow flycatcher. Flycatchers can be quite challenging for me to identify, and I suspect many other birders find them difficult as well. This was certainly true for the pair of willow flycatchers that I was fortunate enough to observe and photograph.
In Ohio, several species of flycatchers regularly summer and breed. Since many of these species look very similar, the most reliable way to identify them is by learning their distinct and recognizable calls. In fact before 1973, Alder and Willow Flycatchers were considered the same species.
I used the Merlin app on my phone to identify the willow flycatchers by their calls. However, in my experience, Merlin is not always 100% accurate. For instance, I once had Merlin identify a person standing next to me who was sneezing as a trumpeter swan. So, I opened the Sibley app on my phone and listened to the call of the willow flycatcher. It sounded like the bird I was hearing and seeing, so I was fairly confident in identifying it as a willow flycatcher.
Birdtography 
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