Willow Flycatcher

Empidonax trailliiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

General

Willow Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with brown-olive upperparts, white throat contrasting with paler breast, and white to pale yellow belly. Head has darker cap and faint white eye rings. Wings are dark with two white bars. Sexes are similar.

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.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"fitz-bew", "fritz-be-yew"

Interesting Facts

The Willow Flycatcher was first described in 1828 by American ornithologist John James Audubon.

The species name commemorates the Scottish zoologist Thomas Stewart Traill.

At one time, this bird and the Alder Flycatcher were considered to be a single species, Traill's Flycatcher.

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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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

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.

● 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