Empidonax oberholseri
Late spring storms can be disastrous for entire populations of Dusky Flycatchers. In the past, snow and freezing rain in June has killed nearly all the Dusky Flycatchers in the affected regions. Fortunately, such weather is normally a local event, and the following year finds other Dusky Flycatchers returning to fill the void created by the unseasonable storms. The male Dusky Flycatcher stays around the nest after the eggs are laid to help the female raise the young birds. The Dusky Flycatcher was formerly considered a subspecies of the Gray Flycatcher, but it was split off in 1939. The scientific name oberholseri honors Dr. Harry Oberholser, one of the finest 20th-century ornithologists. He worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Cleveland Natural History Museum. |
I.D.: Sexes similar: olive-brown upperparts; 2 faint, white wing bars; light-colored eye ring; dark bill with orange at the base of the lower mandible; white throat; long, dark tail trimmed with white. Size: L 5-6 in. (13-15 cm). Range: common to uncommon breeder throughout the Rockies. Habitat: deciduous forests, willow thickets, mixed coniferous forests and avalanche slopes in the montane. Nesting: in the crotch of a small shrub; small cup nest is made of weeds, plant fibers, feathers, grass and fur; female incubates 3-4 eggs for 15-16 days. Feeding: flycatches for aerial insects; also gleans and hover-gleans leaves, limbs and bark for larval and adult insects. Voice: Male: quick, whistled tse-beek preet, rising at the end. Similar Species: Willow Flycatcher: no eye ring. Least Flycatcher: light lower mandible; call is che-bec. Cordilleran Flycatcher: yellow underparts. Hammond's Flycatcher: practically indistinguishable in the field, except for its mature spruce-fir forest habitat and its call, tse-beek. |
