contopus (from kontos, short, and pous, foot) borealis (northern)
Saturday, May 29, 1982 — 1:30 pm
McNaughton, Wisconsin — Fort Wilderness
Sally and I walked to Fort Wilderness. We were near the horse corral when I spotted an Olive-sided Flycatcher on the top of a tall, dead birch trunk in the corral. It flew to the top of a dead birch near the barn then off out of sight. I next saw it in the top of a birch in front of the barn with a large dragonfly in its bill. It swallowed the dragonfly with difficulty, looked around for a while, then took off over the nearby woods.
I didn’t hear it sing, but I did see the white tufts below its wings. It was larger than an empidonax, with a dark gray/green back and head, and a large bill. It had a white throat and a smeary gray chest with a white streak down the center.
The barn and corral at Fort Wilderness are right at the edge of the American Legion State Forest. The corral had a grove of birches, but the horses have eaten all the bark off, and only straight dead trunks remain.