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Acadian Flycatcher

Acadian Flycatcher Identification Guide

Acadian Flycatcher

Key facts

Scientific name: Empidonax virescens
UK status: Accidental (rare vagrant)
Global conservation status: Least concern
Length: 12 – 13 cm
Wingspan: 17 – 20 cm
Weight: 11 – 14 g

Description

The Acadian flycatcher is a small songbird with a large, peaked head, relatively long wings, and a flat, elongated bill. Its upperparts are olive-brown with two pale wingbars, while its underparts are a soft whitish-yellow. It has a distinctive pale eyering, and its bill has a dark top mandible and yellow below. Males and females are similar.

It is often found perched on branches in the middle layers of trees, where it catches insects and sings its sharp, explosive “ker-chip!” song.

Brown-headed cowbirds often lay eggs in the nests of Acadian flycatcher but fewer than 20% of the young survive.

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Diet

Acadian Flycatchers primarily feed on insects and insect larvae, which they pick from the undersides of leaves during brief flights from an open perch. They also catch insects in mid-air, a behaviour known as hawking.

Listen

Sue Riffe/xeno-canto

Range and habitat

In breeding season, the Acadian flycatcher is found in the eastern United States of America, and southwest Canada deciduous forests, often in lowlands near rivers, streams, and swamps. It migrates south to tropical forests in eastern Mexico and parts of the Caribbean, Central, and South America.

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