Hammond's flycatcher

Last updated

Hammond's flycatcher
Empidonax hammondii.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Empidonax
Species:
E. hammondii
Binomial name
Empidonax hammondii
(Xántus, J, 1858)
Empidonax hammondii map.svg
Hammond's flycatcher - Rocky Point, British Columbia Hammond's flycatcher.jpg
Hammond's flycatcher - Rocky Point, British Columbia

Hammond's flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii) 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. [2]

Contents

Description

Adults are 12–14 cm long (4.7-5.5 in), span about 22 cm (8.7 in) across the wing and weigh 8-12 g (0.3-04 oz). [3] They have grayish-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a conspicuous white eye ring, white wing bars, a small bill and a short tail. The breast is washed with grey and the sides of the belly with yellow. Females usually have a shorter, wider bill than males. [4] Immature birds are similar to adults, but have broader wing bars and are more buff.

Many species of Empidonax flycatchers are very similar in appearance. Hammond's flycatchers are mainly confused with Dusky ( E. oberholseri ) and Gray ( E. wrightii ) flycatchers, which are similar in color and size and have an overlapping range. [5] The best way to distinguish the Hammond's flycatcher is by its call, breeding habitat and/or range.

Taxonomy

Hammond's flycatchers are part of the genus Empidonax, which includes a dozen of other species. Despite the relatively large range of the species, the Hammond's flycatcher does not present a lot of genetic variations. This might be the result of a bottleneck event, that could have occurred when the species range was confined to the South of the Pleistocene ice. The bird's morphology, including its plumage, is also consistent across its range. [6] However, there is evidence showing that some Hammond's flycatchers on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, have evolved longer, thicker bills in the absence of Western flycatchers, which occupy a very similar niche, but usually have a thicker bill than the Hammond's flycatcher. [4] The Hammond's, the Dusky and the Gray flycatchers are sister species, with no evidence of interbreeding. [7]

Habitat and distribution

The Hammond's flycatcher is a migratory species, breeding in Western North America and wintering in Mexico and Central America. [3]

Habitat

Their preferred breeding habitats are mature coniferous and mixed forests. They are typically found in dense fir forests, conifer and aspen forests and dogwood. [5] Their wintering ground habitats are similar to those used as breeding grounds.

Distribution

Hammond's flycatchers can be found in the Western United States, including Montana, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. [5] In Canada, their range includes British Columbia, Yukon and Alberta. Certain birds have been found as far north as Alaska. Overall, their breeding range is formed by regions that have been greatly influenced by past glaciation events. [6] These birds are migratory and winter in Mexico and in Central America.

Behavior

Vocalizations

The song is a multi-versed, hoarse ssilit, greeep, silit, pweet. The call is a sharp peek.

Hammond's flycatchers do not sing during the fall migration or on wintering grounds. [5] They start singing in early May, shortly after their arrival on breeding grounds. The frequency of the song is usually higher at the beginning of the mating season and drops as summer progresses; males that do not have a partner sing more often and at a higher frequency than paired males. [5]

Like in other species of the genus Empidonax, bill-snapping and mandible-clicking are commonly used in a threatening context. [5]

Diet

Their favorite preys include beetles, flies, bees, butterflies and moths, with a mean length of 5.7 mm and a mean weight of 1.656 mg. [8] True beetles, and net-winged insects can also be part of their diet. They often wait on an open perch in the upper parts of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight (hawking), and are also known to pluck insects from foliage while hovering (gleaning).

Breeding

These birds are believed to be monogamous and show no evidence of extra-pair copulation. [5] Male Hammond's flycatchers physically fight at the beginning of the breeding season, locking themselves together in midair and fluttering to the ground. [9] They tend to nest high up in tall trees, on small to medium-sized branches. They prefer areas where they can be covered by leaves, on the northeast or southwest sides of trees, and prefer old-growth forest, with a minimum age of 80 to 90 years. [10]

They make a cup nest on a fork in a tree. Females usually lay, in early June, three or four creamy white eggs, sometimes marked with small reddish-brown dots. [3] The female incubates the eggs for about 15 days. [5] The hatchlings are altricial; both the male and the female are responsible for feeding the young.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olive-sided flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The olive-sided flycatcher is a small to medium sized passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the Tyrant flycatcher family. It is a migratory species that travels from South to North America to breed during the summer. It is a very agile flyer and mainly consumes flying insects on flight. Since 2016, this species has been assessed as being near-threatened globally (IUCN) and threatened in Canada (SRA) due to its declining populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-bellied flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The yellow-bellied flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alder flycatcher</span> Species of bird

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willow flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The willow flycatcher is a small insect-eating, neotropical migrant bird of the tyrant flycatcher family native to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acadian flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The Acadian flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great crested flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The great crested flycatcher is a large insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It is the most widespread member of the genus Myiarchus in North America, and is found over most of the eastern and mid-western portions of the continent. It dwells mostly in the treetops and rarely is found on the ground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American dusky flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The American dusky flycatcher, or simply dusky flycatcher, is a small insectivorous passerine of the tyrant flycatcher family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euler's flycatcher</span> Species of bird

Euler's flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in South America east of the Andes from Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia and Argentina, and on the islands of Trinidad and formerly also Grenada. This species is named for the Swiss ornithologist Carl Euler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American gray flycatcher</span> Species of bird

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fork-tailed flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The fork-tailed flycatcher is a passerine bird of the tyrant flycatcher family, and is the member of a genus typically referred to as kingbirds. Named for their distinguishingly long, forked tail, fork-tailed flycatchers are seen in lightly forested or grassland areas, from southern Mexico, to south past Argentina. They are most frequently observed sitting on conspicuous perches waiting for flying arthropods to fly past, they then sally out, eat their prey, and return to their perches. Northern populations near southern Mexico tend to be permanent residents, while fork-tailed flycatchers that live further south are migrants with a reputation to wander as far north as the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birds of North American boreal forests</span>

The boreal forest or taiga of the North American continent stretches through a majority of Canada and most of central Alaska, extending spottily into the beginning of the Rocky Mountain range in Northern Montana and into New England and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. This habitat extends as far north as the tree line and discontinues in mixed deciduous-coniferous forests to the south. The "taiga", as it is called there, of Eurasia occupies a similar range on those continents. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the boreal forest covers 2.3 million square miles, a larger area than the remaining Brazilian Amazon rain forest. Although it is largely forest, the boreal forests include a network of lakes, river valleys, wetlands, peat lands and semi-open tundra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tufted tit-tyrant</span> Species of bird

The tufted tit-tyrant is a species of bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. This species is found in western South America; its range stretches from southern Colombia south along the Andes mountains to Tierra del Fuego. It prefers to live in upper montane forests and shrublands; however, it is a habitat generalist and can be found across a wide range of ecosystems. The tufted tit-tyrant has three subspecies, including the nominate subspecies Anairetes parulus parulus, A. p. aequatorialis, and A. p. patagonicus, and is very closely related to the Juan Fernández tit-tyrant. It is very small with a distinctive and conspicuous crest. The bird's head is black overall with white supraloral and postocular stripes. Its dull grayish-brown back contrasts with its white throat and breast that are covered with black streaks and pale, unmarked yellow underbelly. There are few noticeable differences in plumage between the subspecies. It is a vocal flycatcher with a broad repertoire of songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flammulated flycatcher</span> Species of bird

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-naped xenopsaris</span> Species of bird in South America

The white-naped xenopsaris, also known as the reed becard and white-naped becard, is a species of suboscine bird in the family Tityridae, the only member of the genus Xenopsaris. It is found in South America, in humid subtropical and tropical savanna climates in most of the countries east of the Andes: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. Living in open woodland and other open forest habitats, it is mostly sedentary, though some populations may be migratory. The species, which is closely related to becards and tityras, was thought to be either a tyrant-flycatcher or cotinga, before it was placed in Tityridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western flycatcher</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Least flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The least flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher in eastern North America.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Empidonax hammondii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22699857A93752232. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22699857A93752232.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 156.
  3. 1 2 3 "Hammond's Flycatcher Identification, All about Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  4. 1 2 Johnson, Ned K. (1966). "Morphologic Stability versus Adaptive Variation in the Hammond's Flycatcher". The Auk. 83 (2): 179–200. doi:10.2307/4083013. JSTOR   4083013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Hammond's Flycatcher - Introduction | Birds of North America Online". birdsna.org. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  6. 1 2 Johnson, Ned K.; Marten, Jill A. (January 1991). "Evolutionary genetics of flycatchers. III. Variation in Empidonax hammondii (Aves: Tyrannidae)". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 69 (1): 232–238. doi:10.1139/z91-035. ISSN   0008-4301.
  7. Johnston, David W. (1964). "Review of Biosystematics of Sibling Species of Flycatchers in the Empidonax Hammondii-Oberholseri-Wrightii Complex". Bird-Banding. 35 (2): 136. doi:10.2307/4511075. JSTOR   4511075.
  8. Beaver, Donald L.; Baldwin, Paul H. (1975). "Ecological Overlap and the Problem of Competition and Sympatry in the Western and Hammond's Flycatchers". The Condor. 77 (1): 1–13. doi:10.2307/1366754. JSTOR   1366754.
  9. Sedgwick, James A. (1993). "Reproductive Ecology of Dusky Flycatchers in Western Montana". The Wilson Bulletin. 105 (1): 84–92. JSTOR   4163251.
  10. Sakai, Howard F.; Noon, Barry R. (1991). "Nest-Site Characteristics of Hammond's and Pacific-Slope Flycatchers in Northwestern California". The Condor. 93 (3): 563–574. doi:10.2307/1368188. JSTOR   1368188.