Yellow-bellied flycatcher

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Yellow-bellied flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - Empidonax flaviventris.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Empidonax
Species:
E. flaviventris
Binomial name
Empidonax flaviventris
(Baird, WM & Baird, SF, 1843)
Empidonax flaviventris map.svg
Approximate distribution map
  Breeding
  Migration
  Non-breeding

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

Contents

Description

Adults have greenish upperparts and yellowish underparts (especially on the throat), with a dusky wash on the chest. They have a white or yellow eye ring that lacks the teardrop projection of Pacific-slope ( E. difficilis ) or cordilleran ( E. occidentalis ) flycatchers, white or yellowish wing bars that contrast strongly against the black wings, a broad, flat bill, and a relatively short tail when compared to other members of the genus. The upper mandible of the bill is dark, while the lower mandible is orange-pink. DNA testing in 2014 confirmed a field mark, involving the extent of buffy edging on the secondaries, to reliably distinguish this species from the two so-called "Western Flycatchers." [2] [3]

Measurements: [4]

Yellow-bellied flycatchers wait on a perch low or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering over foliage. They sometimes eat berries or seeds.

Yellow-bellied flycatcher song, recorded in Minnesota in late May

The yellow-bellied flycatcher's song can be transcribed as a rough, descending "tse-berk", which can be similar to the more common least flycatcher's snappier, more evenly pitched "che-bek."

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Rancho Naturalista Baja - Costa Rica Yellow-bellied Flycatcher2.jpg
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Rancho Naturalista Baja - Costa Rica

Breeding

Their breeding habitat is wet northern woods, especially spruce bogs, across Canada and the northeastern United States. They make a cup nest in sphagnum moss on or near the ground.

Migration

These birds migrate to southern Mexico and Central America.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Empidonax flaviventris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22699839A93750697. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22699839A93750697.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. "Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 27 September 2020.