Olive-sided Flycatcher

Contopus cooperiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous, Mountains

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

White to pink with brown and gray spots

Number of Eggs:

3 - 4

Incubation Days:

14 - 17

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with lichen, grass, roots, twigs, weeds, and pine needles.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Large, heavy-billed flycatcher with dark olive-brown upperparts, streaked olive-brown sides, and white underparts. Head has slight crest and faint white eye-ring. Wings are dark with two pale bars. Dark tail is relatively short, broad, and slightly notched. Black legs, feet.

Range and Habitat

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Breeds in Alaska, east across Canada to northern New England, and south to the mountains of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include boreal spruce and fir forests, usually near openings, burns, ponds, and bogs.

Breeding and Nesting

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Three to four brown and gray spotted, white to pink eggs are laid in a twig nest lined with lichens, mosses, and grass, and built near the end of a branch among the foliage well up in an evergreen tree. Incubation ranges from 14 to 17 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Diet consists mostly of flying insects, including bees, wasps, flying ants, moths, grasshoppers, and dragonflies; catches food in mid-air.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Song is a distinctive and emphatic "quick-three-beers". Call is a loud "pip-pip-pip".

Similar Species

Olive-sided Flycatcher: Greater Pewee has longer tail, tufted crest, and more uniform gray plumage. Eastern Wood-Pewee is smaller and has white to olive-gray underparts.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

● Song: Call sounds like quick three beers.

● Foraging & Feeding: Olive-sided Flycatcher: Diet consists mostly of flying insects, including bees, wasps, flying ants, moths, grasshoppers, and dragonflies; catches food in mid-air.

● Breeding & nesting: Olive-sided Flycatcher: Three to four brown and gray spotted, white to pink eggs are laid in a twig nest lined with lichens, mosses, and grass, and built near the end of a branch among the foliage well up in an evergreen tree. Incubation ranges from 14 to 17 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Olive-sided Flycatcher: Greater Pewee has longer tail, tufted crest, and more uniform gray plumage. Eastern Wood-Pewee is smaller and has white to olive-gray underparts.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Olive-sided Flycatcher: Breeds in Alaska, east across Canada to northern New England, and south to the mountains of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include boreal spruce and fir forests, usually near openings, burns, ponds, and bogs.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1.1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America