Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Pine County
2009-11-18

'Accidental' in Minnesota - Five or fewer records in Pine County for the Fall season

The bird, to me looked like an extremely fat chickadee with about a fifteen inch tail. It had a completely black head, down to the beak and back around the head at the same level. Then the color went into a white which faded into a really light gray along the back, the wings were darker gray. The belly was white as can be. Lower down the back it was black, same on the wings. The tail was completely black, except for two white stripes along each outside edge of the tail. The tail would also open into a beautiful "V" shape.

We photographed and watched the bird from 11-18-09 to 11-25-09. The evening of the 25th was the last time this bird was seen on our property as of 11-30-09.

Heidi Eichert
Sony DSLR-A100 300mm F/5.6 1/500 sec ISO-250