Least flycatcher

Least flycatcher
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Empidonax
Species: E. minimus
Binomial name
Empidonax minimus
(Baird, 1843)

The least flycatcher (Empidonax minimus), (also called chebec, or chebecker, after the sound it makes), is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher in eastern North America.

Description

The least flycatcher is between 5 and 5 34 inches (13 and 15 cm) long, with a 7 12 to 8 12 in (19 to 22 cm) spread.[2] It typically weighs around 11 grams (0.39 oz).[3] Adults have greyish-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a conspicuous white eye ring, white wing bars, a small, short bill and a short tail. The breast is washed with grey and the sides of the belly with yellow. It is similar in appearance to the larger eastern wood pewee.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is open deciduous or mixed woods across Canada and the northern United States. They make a cup nest on a fork in a small tree.

These birds migrate to Mexico and Central America.

Behaviour

They wait on an open perch low or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight (hawking), also sometimes picking insects from foliage while hovering (gleaning). They sometimes eat berries.[5]

Call

The song is a dry che-bec. The call is a sharp whit.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Empidonax minimus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Forbush, Edward Howe; May, John Bichard (1955). A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Bramhall Books. pp. 318–319. ISBN 978-1-258-21691-7.
  3. McGillivray, William Bruce; Semenchuk, Glen Peter (1998). Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds. Nature Alberta. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-9696134-2-8. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  4. "Least Flycatcher". Nova Scotia Museum. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  5. "Least Flycatcher". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 15 December 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Empidonax minimus.
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