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, to southern British Columbia, northeastern Wyoming, eastern Nebraska, southern Missouri, south-central Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to the Appalachians; winters from northern Mexico to Nicaragua. Prefers shade trees and orchards in villages and city parks, and along rural roadsides.

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.