Fork tailed flycatcher in the Falkland Islands

Fork tailed Flycatcher. Copyright Alan Henry

Birding in the Falkland Islands - Courtesy of Alan Henry (See his regular blog on Falklands birding.)

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - Fork Tailed Flycatcher - Very Rare Vagrant

I had Friday off work and we all headed out to Goose Green for the weekend, It turned out to be a great move as I found a Fork Tailed Flycatcher at 2pm when the bird flew over my head and landed in a small conifer just as I was heading out to do some fishing, during a mad sprint back to the house to grab my camera the bird disappeared. After what seemed like a lifetime I relocated it in some larger conifer trees, I got a couple of record shots before it took off again and flew right across the settlement and seemed to land in some European gorse.

Tt was being mobbed by a couple of Dark Faced Ground Tyrants.

By the time I got over to where I thought it had landed it was being mobbed by a couple of Dark Faced Ground Tyrants. I got a few more pictures before it took flight again with the Dark Faced Ground Tyrants in hot pursuit.

I went around the other side of the gorse bush to get a bit closer to it, I got the below shots of it before I went back to the house and made some phone calls to other birders, Unfortunately it was never seen again despite intensive searching over the next couple of days.

Fork Tailed Flycatcher is a very rare vagrant to the Falkland Islands, this is my first sighting of the species in the Islands, my Falkland bird list now stands at 139.

Our thanks to Alan Henry for this information and these images.