Western Flycatcher

Overview

The western flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) is a small insectivorous bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is native to western North America and breeds in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast forests from California to Alaska and south to central Mexico.

Identification

• Olive-grey upperparts that are darker on the wings and tail, paired with yellowish underparts.
• Features a conspicuous teardrop-shaped white eye ring, white wing bars, a small bill, and a short tail.
• The song consists of rapidly sung notes such as pseet, ptsick, or seet, while the male’s position call is a loud pit pete or tse-seet.
• Distinguished from similar species by its breeding habitat, range, and specific vocal differences, though it looks closely alike to other Empidonax flycatchers.

Habitat

This species inhabits coniferous and deciduous forests, including mixed woods, Douglas fir, redwood, pine-oak forests, and riparian woodlands. Its preferred breeding habitat is usually near running water, where it constructs a cup nest in the fork of a tree, typically low in a horizontal branch.

Diet

It forages by hawking, where it waits on a perch before flying out to catch insects in flight, and by gleaning insects from foliage while hovering. The diet includes flying insects such as mosquitoes and gnats, as well as caterpillars and spiders, playing an important role in keeping insect populations in check.

Did you know?

DNA testing in 2014 identified a new field mark involving the extent of buffy edging on the secondaries, which reliably distinguishes this species from yellow-bellied flycatchers. As of November 2019, there was one recorded case of these West Coast birds appearing on the East Coast in Palmyra, New Jersey.