Willow Flycatcher
The Willow and Alder Flycatchers were once considered a single species ("Traill's Flycatcher"). During the breeding season each species lives in its characteristic habitat, but during migration birders may encounter birds of different species in a habitat in which they are not usually found. Thus, the only sure way to identify breeding males is by their voices, which are different in each species. In other seasons when males do not sing, all that can readily be told is that they are Empidonax flycatchers.

The Willow Flycatcher is slightly smaller than the House Sparrow. It is dull gray-green above, whitish below, with two dull white wing bars and a narrow white eye ring (often not noticeable). Other western Empidonax flycatchers have a more conspicuous eye ring or are grayer above. The Willow Flycatcher is distinguishable from the Alder Flycatcher only by voice, breeding habitat and nest. The song of the Willow Flycatcher is a wheezy fitz-bew or pit-speer. The song of the Alder Flycatcher is a burry fee-bee-o, descending more abruptly in pitch.

The Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, a subspecies of the Willow Flycatcher, is on the U.S. Endangered Species List. It is classified as endangered in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. Destruction of the dense streamside thickets that it nests in has dealt a serious blow to this species. Another problem has been nest parasitism by cowbirds, which lay their own eggs in the flycatchers' nests, to the detriment of the flycatchers' own broods. Predators, especially those that feed on eggs, have also contributed to this small bird's decline.

The Willow Flycatcher nests usually in horizontal forks or upright crotches of shrubs or small trees, usually between 3 to 25 feet above the ground, averaging about 4 to 6 feet. It commonly nests in dogwood, hawthorn, willow, buttonbush, elder, viburnum and blackberry and places its nest at the outer edge of a shrub or thicket, so it can be easily approached. The Willow Flycatcher eats primarily flying insects.

The Willow Flycatcher breeds from southern British Columbia, Alberta, North Dakota, New York and Maine south to central California, Nevada, Southwest, Arkansas and Virginia. It winters in the tropics. The Willow Flycatcher prefers swampy thickets, upland pastures and old abandoned orchards while the Alder Flycatcher occurs along wooded lakeshores and streams.
Willow Flycatcher Range Map

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