Alder Flycatcher

Empidonax alnorumOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Codes: Common Name: ALFL Scientific Name: EMPALN ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178340

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Overview

Alder Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with olive-brown upperparts, white underparts, and indistinct white eye-ring. Wings are olive-brown with two white or pale bars. Bill is short with orange lower mandible. Black legs and feet. Weak fluttering direct flight with shallow, rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Alder Flycatcher: Breeds from Alaska east through Manitoba to Newfoundland and south to British Columbia, Great Lakes region, and southern New England. Spends winters in tropics. Preferred habitats include alder and birch thickets near riparian areas, swamps, bogs, and ponds.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"fee-beer", "wee-bee"

Interesting Facts

The Alder Flycatcher is so similar to the Willow Flycatcher that they were once thought to be the same species. Song is the only definitive way to tell them apart.

In an experiment on song learning, Alder Flycatchers were "tutored" with Willow Flycatcher song in the first two months of life. The next spring, they sang normal Alder Flycatcher song.

An estimated 63% of their population breeds in Canada's boreal forest.

A group of flycatchers has many collective nouns, including an "outfield", "swatting", "zapper", and "zipper" of flycatchers.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Alder Flycatcher

● Song: "fee-beer", "wee-bee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Alder Flycatcher: Feeds on insects, berries, and a few seeds. Frequently hovers and snatches flying prey from the air; also gleans insects, berries, and seeds from vegetation.

● Breeding & nesting: Alder Flycatcher: Three to four brown-spotted, white eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest made from bark, weeds, stems, and grass and lined with plant down or other soft materials. Nest is built in a shrub or tree 1 to 4 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Alder Flycatcher: Once considered the same species as Willow Flycatcher, which may have paler eye-ring; however, most individuals are indistinguishable in appearance and are best identified by voice, breeding habitat, or nest. Acadian and Yellow-bellied flycatchers are greener above and more yellow below. Least Flycatcher is grayer above, shorter-tailed, and smaller.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering direct flight with shallow wing beats.

Alder Flycatcher Spring Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Alder Flycatcher: Breeds from Alaska east through Manitoba to Newfoundland and south to British Columbia, Great Lakes region, and southern New England. Spends winters in tropics. Preferred habitats include alder and birch thickets near riparian areas, swamps, bogs, and ponds.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationStable

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Lower mandible

The lower part of the bill.

Riparian

Relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America