Happy Thanksgiving

The Least of These

You've seen those birds, right?  The ones in the dried flower department, made out of mushrooms and lichen.  The ones that look like this little guy.

For almost twenty minutes my little mushroom bird flitted from one weedy herb garden bed to another, feeding on seeds while my zoom lens tried to capture a good photo through the glass of my back door.

And then my mushroom bird flew away.  Last night my sister helped me identify my feathered friend, we looked through the field guide and after much consultation over warblers and finches dismissed all of those possibilities when we discovered the Least Flycatcher.

The range is right, the markings are right, the size is right... Meet Empidonax minimus the smallest eastern flycatcher.