Bird name:

Least Flycatcher

Empidonax minimus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Code 4

LEFL

Code 6

EMPMIN

ITIS

178344

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Small colonies, Semicolonial

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Creamy white

Number of Eggs:

3 - 6

Incubation Days:

13 - 15

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Grass, bark strips, twigs, lichens, and plant fibers., Bound by spider or caterpillar webs.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Least Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with olive-gray upperparts, gray breast, and pale yellow belly. Eye-ring is white. Bill has pale lower mandible with dark tip. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Least Flycatcher: Breeds from southern Yukon to northern Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, south to southern British Columbia, northeastern Wyoming, eastern Nebraska, southern Missouri, south-central Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and to southern Appalachians; winters from northern Mexico to Nicaragua. Widely distributed in open country; prefers shade trees and orchards in villages and city parks, and along rural roadsides and woodland borders.

Breeding and Nesting

Least Flycatcher: Three to six creamy white eggs are laid in a nest made of grass, bark strips, twigs, lichens, and plant fibers, bound by spider or caterpillar webs, and built in a tree or shrub 2 to 60 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 17 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Least Flycatcher: Feeds on insects, some spiders, and a few berries and seeds; forages from branches and foliage by perching to spot prey, and then flying out to catch it in mid-air.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Least Flycatcher: Call is a piercing "whitt-whitt-whitt." Song is a raspy, repetitive "chee-BECK."

Similar Species

Least Flycatcher: Willow, Acadian, and Alder flycatchers are larger with heavier bills, greener upperparts, longer primary extensions, and different voices.

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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.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Lower mandible

The lower part of the bill.

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