Cordilleran Flycatcher
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| Cordilleran Flycatcher | ||||||||||||||
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| Empidonax occidentalis Nelson, 1897 |
The Cordilleran Flycatcher, Empidonax occidentalis is a small insect-eating bird. It is a small Empidonax flycatcher, with typical size ranging from 13-17 cm.
Adults have olive gray upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with yellowish underparts; they have a conspicuous white eye ring, white wing bars, a small bill and a short tail. Many species of this genus look closely alike. The best way to distinguish species apart is by voice, by breeding habitat and/or range. This bird is virtually identical to the Pacific-slope Flycatcher. These two species were formerly considered a single species known as Western Flycatcher. The Pacific-slope is a breeding bird of the Pacific Coast forests and mountain ranges from California to Alaska, the Cordilleran is a breeding bird of the Rocky Mountains. They both have different songs and calls.
Cordilleran Flycatchers' preferred breeding habitat is pine-oak or coniferous forest, usually near running water. They make a cup nest on a fork in a tree, usually low in a horizontal branch. Females usually lay 2-5 eggs.
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 Cordilleran Flycatcher waits on an open perch of a shrub or low branch of a tree and flies out to catch insects in flight-(hawking), and also sometimes picks insects from foliage while hovering-(gleaning).
The song is a multi versed pseet, ptsick, seet usually sung rapidly together. The call is a loud pit pete.
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[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Empidonax occidentalis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
[edit] External links
- Cordilleran Flycatcher videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Cordilleran Flycatcher photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res
- Photo; Article fwp.mt.gov (Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks)
