Willow Flycatcher

Empidonax trailliiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Breeding Location:

Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

White to pale buff with brown spots

Number of Eggs:

2 - 4

Incubation Days:

12 - 15

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Bark, grass, rootlets, and bits of plant.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

Willow Flycatcher: Small flycatcher, brown-olive upperparts, white throat contrasting with paler breast, white to pale yellow belly. Head has darker cap, faint white eye rings. Dark wings with two white bars. Feeds on insects, spiders, berries. Weak fluttering flight with shallow rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Willow Flycatcher: Breeds from southern British Columbia, Alberta, North Dakota, New York, and Maine south to central California, Nevada, the southwest, Arkansas, and Virginia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include swampy thickets, upland pastures, and old abandoned orchards; also occurs along wooded lakeshores and streams.

Breeding and Nesting

Willow Flycatcher: Two to four brown spotted, white to pale buff eggs are laid in a neat, compact cup of plant down and fibers built in a low bush or sapling. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Willow Flycatcher: Feeds on insects; forages in flight, sometimes picking insects from foliage.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Willow Flycatcher: Call is a wheezy "fitz-bew" or "pit-speer." Song is a burry "fee-bee-o", descending more abruptly in pitch.

Similar Species

Willow Flycatcher: Alder Flycatcher has a shorter bill, more prominent eye-ring, and less brown on upperparts.

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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.

Willow Flycatcher

● Song: "fitz-bew", "fritz-be-yew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Willow Flycatcher: Feeds on insects; forages in flight, sometimes picking insects from foliage.

● Breeding & nesting: Willow Flycatcher: Two to four brown spotted, white to pale buff eggs are laid in a neat, compact cup of plant down and fibers built in a low bush or sapling. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Willow Flycatcher: Alder Flycatcher has a shorter bill, more prominent eye-ring, and less brown on upperparts.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Willow Flycatcher: Breeds from southern British Columbia, Alberta, North Dakota, New York, and Maine south to central California, Nevada, the southwest, Arkansas, and Virginia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include swampy thickets, upland pastures, and old abandoned orchards; also occurs along wooded lakeshores and streams.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America