Here are three photos of a Red-breasted Flycatcher to compare with your Red-throated Flycatcher
You can see the identification points mentioned by John.
In addition, the Red-breasted is buff/brownish around the head, breast and lower body whereas the Red-throated is more grey, and the pale line on the wing is white for Red-throated but buff/brown for Red-breasted.
The most obvious visible features are
Pale lower bill for Red-breasted, mostly all dark/black for Red-throated
Red-breasted is a softer buff/brown colour, Red-throated is a greyer colour
But the easiest way to separate them is by the call, since both call quite frequently.
Red-breasted call is slower, softer, you can hear each note separately, Red-throated is a fast rattle. Listen to this sound clip, the first two calls are Red-breasted, the last two are Red-throated
http://geoffwelch46.com/RBRTFLYCEV81.mp3
You can see the difference on this 'picture' (sonogram) of these four calls
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Last edited by wgeoff at 14/01/2010 18:26 ]
