Yellow-bellied flycatcher

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

The yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.

Adults have greenish upperparts and yellowish underparts (especially on the throat), with a dusky wash on the chest. They have a white or yellow eye ring that lacks the teardrop projection of Pacific-slope (E. difficilis) or cordilleran (E. occidentalis) flycatchers, white or yellowish wing bars that contrast strongly against the black wings, a broad, flat bill, and a relatively short tail when compared to other members of the genus. The upper mandible of the bill is dark, while the lower mandible is orange-pink.

Their breeding habitat is wet northern woods, especially spruce bogs, across Canada and the northeastern United States. They make a cup nest in sphagnum moss on or near the ground.

These birds migrate to southern Mexico and Central America.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers wait on a perch low or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering over foliage. They sometimes eat berries or seeds.

Yellow-bellied flycatcher song, recorded in Minnesota in late May

The yellow-bellied flycatcher's song can be transcribed as a rough, descending "TSE-berk," which can be similar to the more common least flycatcher's snappier, more evenly pitched "che-bek." The three primary call notes of yellow-bellied flycatcher are a clear, ascending "chu-wee," a sharp, gruff "peekk", and a soft, descending "pyu."

References

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