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Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Empidonax difficilisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Pacific-slope Flycatcher Portrait
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General

Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with olive-brown upperparts, yellow throat and belly, and olive-gray breast. Eye-ring is white and elongated. Wings are dark with two pale bars. Bill is long with dark upper mandible and bright yellow lower mandible. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Breeds from Alaska south along the coast to Baja California. Spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include moist, shaded coniferous or mixed forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"pseet-ptsick-seet"

Interesting Facts

  • The species name of the Pacific-slope Flycatcher, difficilis, is appropriate. It means "difficult," and this species is extremely difficult to distinguish from the similar Cordilleran Flycatcher.
  • These two species were formerly considered a single species known as Western Flycatcher.
  • The population on the Channel Islands may actually be a distinct species. It is larger than mainland birds, has a longer bill, a paler chest, slightly different vocalizations, and differs genetically.
  • A group of flycatchers has many collective nouns, including an "outfield", "swatting", "zapper", and "zipper" of flycatchers.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Pacific-slope Flycatcher
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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.
Family
Species Empidonax difficilis
Length5.5 Inches
Wingspan5.5 Inches

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Small flycatcher, olive-brown upperparts, yellow throat and belly, olive-gray breast. Eye-ring is white and elongated. Wings are dark with two pale bars. Bill is long with dark upper mandible and bright yellow lower mandible. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

● Song: "pseet-ptsick-seet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Hawks flying insects or gleans them from foliage; also eats berries and seeds.

● Breeding & nesting: Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Three to five white eggs with brown blotches near large end are laid in a moss-lined cup nest made of small twigs and rootlets, usually built against a tree trunk where the bark has split, in roots of a wind-felled tree, in a bank, or under the eave of a forest cabin. Incubation ranges from 14 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Cordilleran Flycatcher has a two-syllable call (as opposed to an up-slurred single note). Yellow-bellied Flycatcher has a shorter tail and stronger green tones.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.
Pacific-slope Flycatcher Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Pacific-slope Flycatcher: Breeds from Alaska south along the coast to Baja California. Spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include moist, shaded coniferous or mixed forests.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationWidespread
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.4 Ounces