.--Studies of migrants
in Ontario and of specimens from throughout the range show that adult (AHY =
after hatching year) Least Flycatchers (Empidonax minimus) migrate south an average of
about 38 days in advance of the immatures (HY -- hatching year). Median "autumn"
migration dates for AHY Least Flycatchers are 22July (with the middle 90% of the records
spanning the period 11 July- 13 August) at Long Point, Ontario, and 3 August for spec-
imens collected in the southern United States. Arrivals of AHY Least Flycatchers in Mexico
and Central America start in early and mid-August, respectively. The corresponding dates
for HY Least Flycatchers are 29 August (90% from 17 August to 13 September) at Long
Point, 9 September in the southern U.S., and mid-September for arrivals in Mexico and
Central America (Hussell, J. Field Ornithol. 51:65-71, 1980; 52:97-111, 1981; 53:223-
234, 1982). These data indicate a minimum migration time between Ontario and Mexico
of about 25 days for both age classes.
A recent recovery in Mexico of a Least Flycatcher banded in Ontario is consistent
with this view of the autumn migration of the species. The bird was banded by N. Garber
at Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO), Ontario, 42ø30'N, 80ø00'W (SE corner of 10'
block containing the site), on 17 August 1982. It was aged HY on the basis of its incom-
pletely pneumatized skull and broad buff wing bars; its wing chord was 62 mm, and it
weighed 11.9 g. Sex was unknown because the wing chord length was in the overlap
range. On this date it would be among the earliest 5% of HY migrants at Long Point
(Hussell 1981). The bird was found 32 days later, on 18 September 1982, at Las Rosas,
Chiapas, Mexico (approximately 16ø20'N, 92'20'W). The recovery date is within the week
following the first appearance of HYs in Mexico: the earliest HY specimen in Mexico was
taken on 11 September (Hussell 1980).
The recovery locality is 3135 km S 24.9øW of Long Point, which indicates a minimum
average daily flight of 98 km. Distance travelled and migration speed increase to at least
3700 km and 116 km/day, however, if a westward route around the Gulf of Mexico was
followed, as appears to be indicated by specimen records. Because banding and recovery
dates may not represent departvre and arrival dates, migration speed may have been even
faster than this.
Only two other Least Flycatchers have been recovered south of 35øN and only one
of those was either banded or recovered during autumn migration. The latter was an HY
bird banded by D. Bordner on 7 September 1966 at Island Beach, New Jersey, 39'50'N,
74'00W, and shot at Filomeno Mata, Veracruz, Mexico, on an unknown date in December
1966 (Foy, Bird-Banding 47:214-230, 1976).
Thanks to R. B. H. Smith, LPBO, for providing data on the recovery reported here,
to K. Klimkiewicz, Bird Banding Laboratory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for confir-
mation of the recovery record, and to C. Hyslop, Migratory Birds Branch, Canadian
Wildlife Service for information on other Least Flycatcher recoveries. This note is a
contribution of the Long Point Bird Observatory and is Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources, Wildlife Research Section Contribution No. 83-10.--D^wD J. T. HUSSELL,
Wildlife Research Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 50, Maple, Ontario
LOJ IEO, Canada. Received 30 Sept. 1983; accepted 27 Oct. 1983.