Western flycatcher

Last updated

Western flycatcher
Empidonax difficilis 1.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. difficilis
Binomial name
Empidonax difficilis
Baird, 1858
Synonyms
  • Empidonax occidentalis Nelson, 1897

The western flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) 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 south to central Mexico; northern populations migrate south to Mexico for the winter. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

The western flycatcher was recognized as a single species until 1989, when the American Ornithologists’ Union split it into two different species: the Pacific-slope flycatcher (E. difficilis) of coastal western North America and parts of the western Rocky Mountains, and the Cordilleran flycatcher (E. occidentalis) of the interior Rocky Mountains, with both species wintering in Mexico. Both species looked virtually identical to one another, with the split being based on differing breeding habitats and apparent differences in songs and calls. The split was recognized until 2023, when the American Ornithologists’ Union and International Ornithological Congress again lumped both species due to a lack of consistent vocal, genetic, morphological differences and extensive hybridization across much of their range. [3] [4] [5]

Subspecies

There are five subspecies recognized: [2]

The latter two subspecies were previously thought to comprise the "Cordilleran flycatcher".

Description

Adults have olive-gray upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with yellowish underparts; they have a conspicuous teardrop-shaped white eye ring, white wing bars, a small bill and a short tail. It differs only subtly from most Empidonax flycatchers in North America, but its breeding habitat and call are different. Many species of this genus look closely alike. The best ways to distinguish species are by voice, by breeding habitat, and by range. [6]

DNA testing in 2014 confirmed a new field mark, involving the extent of buffy edging on the secondaries, to reliably distinguish this species from the yellow-bellied flycatchers. [7] [8]

The song includes notes represented as pseet, ptsick, seet usually sung rapidly together. In Pacific birds, the ptsick or ptik note has the first syllable higher-pitched than the second—this was previously seen as the only difference between their calls and those of the "Cordilleran" flycatcher (Sibley 2000). The male's typical position call is a loud and distinctive pit pete[ citation needed ] or tse-seet, but some give a "rising tsweep" or a "slurred tseeweep".

Distribution

These birds migrate to Mexico for the winter, where the Mexican central-southern birds are resident. The non-resident birds are on the western coast from Jalisco northwards, and then to inland regions, in a corridor strip on the western flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Habitat

The western flycatcher inhabits either coniferous or deciduous forests. In its range it enters mixed woods, Douglas fir forests, redwood forests, pine-oak forests, and many other wooded environments including riparian woodlands. As of November 2019, there has been one case of these West Coast birds showing up on the East Coast, in Palmyra, New Jersey. [9] The preferred breeding habitat is usually near running water. They make a cup nest on a fork in a tree, usually low in a horizontal branch. Females usually lay two to five eggs.

Diet

As a flycatcher it will wait on a perch and when it sees a flying insect it will fly out to catch it in flight (hawking), and will also pluck insects from foliage while hovering (gleaning). They also enter swarms of gnats or mosquitoes. They fulfill an important role in keeping insect populations in check, particularly mosquitoes, and they also eat caterpillars and spiders.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western bluebird</span> Species of bird

The western bluebird is a small North American thrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warbling vireo</span> Species of bird

The warbling vireo is a small North American songbird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western kingbird</span> Species of bird

The western kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher found throughout western environments of North America, as far south as Mexico.

<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">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">Lazuli bunting</span> Species of bird

The lazuli bunting is a North American songbird named for the gemstone lapis lazuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical kingbird</span> Species of perching bird

The tropical kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher. This bird breeds from southern Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States through Central America, South America as far as south as central Argentina and eastern Peru, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate to warmer parts of the range after breeding.

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

The yellow-green vireo is a small American passerine bird. It is migratory breeding from Mexico to Panama and wintering in the northern and eastern Andes and the western Amazon Basin.

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

The yellowish flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in highlands from southeastern Mexico south to western Panama.

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

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.

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

The American gray flycatcher, 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">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">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 (2019). "Empidonax difficilis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T22699871A137994099. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22699871A137994099.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Tyrant flycatchers – IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  3. American Ornithology Society (6 July 2023). "Species lump for the Western Flycatcher; species status for the goshawk of North America; and species splits in several Caribbean birds among 2023 Check-list changes". American Ornithological Society. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  4. Association, American Birding (2022-12-06). "North American Birds: Vol. 73, No. 2". American Birding Association. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  5. Rush, Andrew C.; Cannings, Richard J.; Irwin, Darren E. (November 2009). "Analysis of multilocus DNA reveals hybridization in a contact zone between Empidonax flycatchers". Journal of Avian Biology. 40 (6): 614–624. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.474.2085 . doi:10.1111/j.1600-048X.2009.04681.x.
  6. Pieplow, Nathan (13 June 2011). "The "Western" Flycatcher Problem". Earbirding. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  7. Engel, Joshua (26 November 2014). "A first for Illinois, discovered in The Field Museum's collection". Field Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  8. Engel, Joshua (2 December 2014). "Follow up: A first for Illinois, discovered in the Field Museum's collection". Field Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  9. "Pacific-slope Flycatcher - eBird". ebird.org. Retrieved 2020-09-25.