American dusky flycatcher | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Tyrannidae |
Genus: | Empidonax |
Species: | E. oberholseri |
Binomial name | |
Empidonax oberholseri Phillips, AR, 1939 | |
The American dusky flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri), or simply dusky flycatcher, is a small insectivorous passerine of the tyrant flycatcher family.
The dusky flycatcher is one of many species in the genus Empidonax. These species are very similar in appearance and behavior, and they are notoriously difficult to differentiate. The best characteristics for distinguishing these species are voice, breeding habitat, and range.
Adults have olive-gray upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a noticeable medium-width white eye ring, white wing bars and a medium length tail. The breast is washed with olive-gray. The bill is mainly dark. It is a bit smaller than the American grey flycatcher and a bit larger than the Hammond's flycatcher.
The male sings a three-part song. A common call is a dry whit, similar to that of other Empidonax flycatchers. A less common call, that is possibly only given by the male, is a sad dew-hic.
The scientific name commemorates the American ornithologist Harry Church Oberholser.
These birds migrate to southern Arizona and Mexico. As non-breeding residents in the south of their migration range, they are passage migrants over the deserts of the south-western United States, the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts, where they make their stops along the flyway.
Their breeding habitat is mountain slopes and foothills with brush and scattered trees (especially ponderosa pine) across western North America. They make a cup nest low in a vertical fork in a shrub.
They often wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects in flight (hawking), and will also pluck insects from foliage while hovering (gleaning).
The yellow-bellied flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.
The alder flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. The genus name Empidonax is from Ancient Greek empis, "gnat", and anax, "master". The specific alnorum is Latin and means "of the alders".
The willow flycatcher is a small insect-eating, neotropical migrant bird of the tyrant flycatcher family native to North America.
The Acadian flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.
Hammond's flycatcher is a flycatcher in the family Tyrannidae. This small insectivorous bird inhabits the coniferous and mixed forests of western North America. The name of this bird commemorates William Alexander Hammond who was the surgeon general of the US Army. Hammond collected bird specimens for Spencer Fullerton Baird.
The American gray flycatcher, or American grey flycatcher, or just gray flycatcher as it is known in North America, is a small, insectivorous passerine in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is common in the arid regions of western North America, especially the Great Basin. From sagebrush steppes to pinyon-juniper woodlands and ponderosa pine forests, this flycatcher forages for insects from shrubs or low tree branches.
The buff-breasted flycatcher is a small insectivorous bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher, typically ranging from 11.5 to 13 cm in size.
The flammulated flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Deltarhynchus but was moved to the genus Ramphotrigon based on genetic analysis. It is endemic to the dry deciduous forest, arid thorn forest, and scrubby woodland of Mexico’s Pacific coast. The flycatcher is an olive to gray-brown bird with a streaked, pale gray chest, white throat, black bill, dark gray feet, and dark brown wings. It is a skulking bird that typically remains hidden in the underbrush. It feeds by gleaning insects off of leaves and twigs that it spots from an exposed perch. The female lays approximately three eggs in a nest made in a shallow tree cavity.
The western flycatcher is a small insectivorous bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is native to western North America, where it breeds in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast forests and mountain ranges from California to Alaska, and winters in Mexico.
The least flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher in eastern North America.