The Ash-throated Flycatcher

A musical portrait of the Ash-throated Flycatcher, a familiar species of Western North America which arrives in Southern California to breed.

This pale flycatcher is common in the arid country of the west. It prefers to nest in holes in trees, but will often settle for other nesting sites. These birds are omnivores and they forage by flying out from a perch to hover and pick insects from foliage or perch on cactuses to feed on fruits.

I regard the Ash-throated Flycatcher as a serene and confident bird, able to sit patiently before bursting into short flights to boldly snap a meal out of the air. So my piece departs from this idea of sitting gently in one place and then sallying out in broader and broader strokes. These are punctuated with brief quotations from the bird’s dawn song, as it sounds when slowed down about four times to reveal intricate melodic details in what sounds like short bursts of indecipherable chatter at normal speed.

Composed for Synchromy and Debs Park Audubon in celebration of Bird L.A. Day 2020.

Watch a performance by Sean Barela at the Synchromy URBAN BIRDS website. On the map, click the small image of the Ash-throated Flycatcher on the upper-left next to words “Scrub Jay Trail”.

8.5×11 PDF score
$10

All scores are published by 

 (ASCAP) and © Christopher Adler (ASCAP)