Alder Flycatcher

Alder Flycatcher

Alder Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with olive-brown upperparts, white underparts, and indistinct white eye-ring. Wings are olive-brown with two white or pale bars. Bill is short with orange lower mandible. Black legs and feet. Weak fluttering direct flight with shallow, rapid wing beats.

● Song: "fee-beer", "wee-bee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Alder Flycatcher: Feeds on insects, berries, and a few seeds. Frequently hovers and snatches flying prey from the air; also gleans insects, berries, and seeds from vegetation.

● Breeding & nesting: Alder Flycatcher: Three to four brown-spotted, white eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest made from bark, weeds, stems, and grass and lined with plant down or other soft materials. Nest is built in a shrub or tree 1 to 4 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Alder Flycatcher: Once considered the same species as Willow Flycatcher, which may have paler eye-ring; however, most individuals are indistinguishable in appearance and are best identified by voice, breeding habitat, or nest. Acadian and Yellow-bellied flycatchers are greener above and more yellow below. Least Flycatcher is grayer above, shorter-tailed, and smaller.

Flight Pattern