First Report of Ash-Throated Flycatcher (\u3ci\u3eMyiarchus cinerascens\u3c/i\u3e) Breeding in the Nebraska Panhandle Region

This report presents evidence of the breeding of Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) in mixed conifer woodland in the Nebraska Panhandle Region, 160 miles north of its nearest known breeding area. In addition, it presents the first photographic evidence and the second accepted record by the Nebraska Ornithologists\u27 Union Records Committee (NOURC) of the presence of Ash-throated Flycatcher in Nebraska. On 28 June 2007 Wayne Mollhoff observed an adult Ash-throated Flycatcher while conducting a survey in Priority Block K409 in Kimball County, Nebraska, for the Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas Project II. The bird was observed on private property in limber pine (Pinus flexilis) habitat from a county road approximately one mile south of Interstate 80 Exit I, and 1.2 miles east of the Wyoming state line. After obtaining permission from the landowner, the area was searched more extensively and a second observation of an Ash-throated Flycatcher was made about 400 yards farther east of the site of the initial observation. During the second sighting, the bird appeared to be carrying food in its beak. Attempts to relocate the bird(s) the following morning, both west and east of the site of the initial find, were unsuccessful. With only a single accepted record in the state (Mollhoff 1989), Mollhoff sent a written documentation of the sighting to the chair of the NOURC, Mark Brogie