Laser flash photolysis of a series of alkylchlorodiazirines in the presence of pyridine generates easily detected, long-lived ylides. At large pyridine concentrations all of the alkylchlorocarbene generated in a laser flash is completely converted into ylide. The yield of ylide in this regime of pyridine concentration correlates with the alpha-C-H bond dissociation energy of the alkyl group. This demonstrates that hydrogen migration competes with carbene formation in the excited state of the precursor.