Least flycatcher

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

The least flycatcher (Empidonax minimus), (also called chebec, or chebecker, after the sound it makes), is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest Empidonax flycatcher in eastern North America.

Description

The least flycatcher is between 5 and 5 3⁄4 inches (13 and 15 cm) long, with a 7 1⁄2 to 8 1⁄2 in (19 to 22 cm) spread.[2] It typically weighs around 11 grams (0.39 oz).[3] Adults have greyish-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a conspicuous white eye ring, white wing bars, a small, short bill and a short tail. The breast is washed with grey and the sides of the belly with yellow. It is similar in appearance to the larger eastern wood pewee.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is open deciduous or mixed woods across Canada and the northern United States. They make a cup nest on a fork in a small tree.

These birds migrate to Mexico and Central America.

Behaviour

They wait on an open perch low or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight (hawking), also sometimes picking insects from foliage while hovering (gleaning). They sometimes eat berries.[5]

Call

The song is a dry che-bec. The call is a sharp whit.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Empidonax minimus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Forbush, Edward Howe; May, John Bichard (1955). A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Bramhall Books. pp. 318–319. ISBN 978-1-258-21691-7.
  3. ↑ McGillivray, William Bruce; Semenchuk, Glen Peter (1998). Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds. Nature Alberta. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-9696134-2-8. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Least Flycatcher". Nova Scotia Museum. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  5. ↑ "Least Flycatcher". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
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