Western flycatcher | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Tyrannidae |
Genus: | Empidonax |
Species: | E. difficilis |
Binomial name | |
Empidonax difficilis Baird, 1858 | |
Synonyms | |
|
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]
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]
There are five subspecies recognized: [2]
The latter two subspecies were previously thought to comprise the "Cordilleran flycatcher".
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".
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.
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.
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.
The western bluebird is a small North American thrush.
The warbling vireo is a small North American songbird.
The western kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher found throughout western environments of North America, as far south as Mexico.
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.
The American dusky flycatcher, or simply dusky flycatcher, is a small insectivorous passerine of the tyrant flycatcher family.
The lazuli bunting is a North American songbird named for the gemstone lapis lazuli.
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.
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.
The yellowish flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in highlands from southeastern Mexico south to western Panama.
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, 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 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.
The least flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher in eastern North America.