Flycatchers are both intriguing and maddening to birders. Some of them are extremely vibrant and distinctive, while many others are drab and nearly indistinguishable from other species.
A nice variety of flycatcher species move through Connecticut with some breeding in the state. Here are the expected (and some rare) flycatcher species that can be found in Connecticut.
Acadian Flycatcher
Identification
Acadian Flycatchers are members of the Empidonax group. This group is particularly hard to identify as they all have a similar look. Acadian Flycatchers have a greenish back, yellowish undersides, two white wing bars, a white eye ring, and a bi-colored bill with half of it being orange and half being darker.
The easiest way to identify this species is by habitat and call. The call of the Acadian Flycatcher is “peet-sah!”
Range
Acadian Flycatchers winter in Northern South America, and make their way north into the U.S. during spring migration. They summer and breed in most of the Southeastern United States and make it as far north as Wisconsin in the Midwest and New York in the Northeast.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Acadian Flycatchers hawk insects from the air as well as grabbing them from the undersides of leaves. They can be seen flying and returning to the same perch time and time again.
Where to Find this Bird
Acadian Flycatchers can be found in mature forests, typically those with a lot of undisturbed forest.
Alder Flycatcher
Identification
The Alder Flycatcher is a member of the Empidonax group. They have an olive green back and head, light yellowish underside, white wing bars and a fairly nondescript eye ring.
Alder Flycatchers are best differentiated from the nearly identical Willow Flycatcher based on song. Their song sounds like “free-beer!”
Range
Alder Flycatchers winter in the Western part of South America and make their way into the United States to breed. Their summering sites are mostly in Canada with their range going from Alaska all the way to the Southeastern coast. In the United States, Alder Flycatchers migrate through the Eastern half of the country and in the Northern parts of the Great Lakes.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Alder Flycatchers are insectivores and eat butterflies, wasps, and grasshoppers among other insects. They may even eat fruit during the winter months.
Where to Find this Bird
Alder Flycatchers can typically be found in habitats that are somewhat wet including marshes, meadows, and thickets.
Eastern Phoebe
Identification
The Eastern Phoebe can be identified by its brownish gray back and even darker brownish gray head. They have a yellowish colored underside and no eye ring.
Range
Eastern Phoebes are common in Canada and the Eastern United States in summer where they breed. In winter they reside in the Southeastern United States and Mexico. Eastern Pheobes can be found year round in some Southeastern States including North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas among others.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Eastern Phoebes eat primarily flying insects including wasps, moths, flies, and beetles. They will also eat fruit and seeds occasionally.
Where to Find this Bird
Eastern Phoebes can be found in wooded areas and are common near water sources. They will nest in manmade structures such as eaves of buildings and on decks.
Eastern Wood Peewee
Identification
Eastern Wood Peewees have grayish-green backs, wings, and heads with two white wing bars. Their underside is yellowish with a grayish wash. They have a peaked head with feathers that make them look somewhat crested. Eastern Wood Peewees have little to no eye ring and a bi-colored bill with part being dark and the other part being orange.
Range
Eastern Wood Peewees winter in Northwestern South America and migrate into the Eastern United States in spring to breed. Their summer range is as far west as the Dakotas and does go into Southern Canada. This is species migrates through Central America, Mexico, Florida, and the Gulf Coast.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Eastern Wood Peewees eat mostly insects. They will fly from their perch to take prey such as crickets, moths, flies, among other groups of insects. They will also eat seeds and berries.
Where to Find this Bird
Eastern Wood Peewees can be found in wooded habitats across their range. They like edge habitat, and can often be heard before they are seen with their long drawn out “pee wee” call.
Great Crested Flycatcher
Identification
Great Crested Flycatchers have a brownish back and wings with rufous accents. They also have rufous on their tail, a gray face and neck, a brownish crest, and a yellow underside.
The call of the Great Crested Flycatcher is a loud “breep!”
Range
Great Crested Flycatchers winter in Northern South America and Central America. They migrate north to Eastern North America and Southeastern Canada where they breed.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Great Crested flycatchers eat a variety of different invertebrates including bees, wasps, grasshoppers, beetles, and more. They will take insects from perches or on the wing. Great Crested Flycatchers will also eat berries.
Where to Find this Bird
Great Crested Flycatchers can be found in woodlands and edge habitat. They typically prefer deciduous or mixed woodlands. Listen for their “breep” call to know that they are in the area.
Least Flycatcher
Identification
Least Flycatchers are small members of the Empidonax flycatcher group with greenish gray backs, light gray to yellow undersides, white wing bars, and a white eye ring. They have a bi-colored bill with the top being darker and the lower part being orange. Least Flycatchers can also be identified by call. They make a crisp “chebeck” sound.
Range
Least Flycatchers winter in Central America and Mexico. In spring, they are one of the earlier arriving flycatcher species in the United States, moving through much of the country and settling into the Northeastern United States and Southern Canada to breed. There are some locations in the Western United States where Least Flycatchers stay during the summer months.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Least Flycatchers eat mostly small insects such as leafhoppers, moths, ants, and grasshoppers. They will also eat certain types of grass seeds and berries.
Where to Find this Bird
Least Flycatchers can be found in or around wooded areas. They typically prefer deciduous or mixed forests. The easiest time to find the species is during migration when they are one of the first flycatcher species to move north and can be heard making their distinctive calls.
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Identification
Olive-sided Flycatchers are rather large for flycatchers and are a brownish gray color with a somewhat peaked appearance to the head when its feathers are raised. The underside shows darker coloration on the sides with a yellow base color to the underside. This pattern is what gives this species its name. Olive-sided Flycatchers do not have a noticeable eye ring, and overall, look fairly distinctive among this group of bird species. The call of the Olive-sided Flycatcher is “three beers!”
Range
Olive-sided Flycatchers winter in Northern South America and migrate north through Mexico in spring. They breed in the Western United States north through Northern Alaska. This species also breeds in Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and the Northern Great Lakes States.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Olive-sided Flycatchers eat insects, most of which are of the flying variety as this species typically catches prey out of the air. Some food items include wasps, grasshoppers, flies, and moths. Olive-sided Flycatchers also eat berries and other plant matter, but the majority of their diet is insects.
Where to Find this Bird
In many parts of the United States, Olive-sided Flycatchers are most easily found during the breeding season where they will typically be in conifer forests. In Canada and the Northern United States, boreal forests are a great place to find this species during summer. Olive-sided Flycatchers can also be found during migration in a wider variety of habitats.
In Wisconsin, Olive-sided Flycatchers breed in the Northern Boreal Forests but can also be found during spring and fall migration.
Willow Flycatcher
Identification
Willow Flycatchers look pretty much identical to Alder Flycatchers with an olive colored back, a lighter underside, two white wing bars, and an eye ring. These two species used to be lumped together as a species known as the Trails Flycatcher, and can only reliably be differentiated by call. The Willow Flycatcher call sounds like “Fitz-bew!”
Range
Willow Flycatchers winter in the Northern most parts of South America as well as Central America and parts of Mexico. They move into the continental United States in spring and breed in the Northern half of the country and the Southern part of Canada.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Willow Flycatchers eat mostly insects which they catch out of the air or pick off of leaves and branches. They will also eat certain types of berries.
Where to Find this Bird
Willow Flycatchers are most often found in areas with shrubs and cover near standing or running water. Edge habitat of marshes, springs, and rivers are all places well suited for Willow Flycatchers.
In Wisconsin, Willow Flycatchers are much more common in the Southern half of the state and areas such as Horicon Marsh and other places with marshy habitat are great places to find them.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Identification
The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is one of the more distinctive looking Empidonax Flycatchers. They have a yellow wash over their entire body with even their wing bars and eye ring showing yellow. their back is darker than their underside but still shows a yellow tint. The call of the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is a sharp, pointed “Che-lunk!”
Range
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers winter in Central America and Mexico, They migrate through the Eastern half of the United States and breed in the Northern forests of the Great Lakes states and Eastern United States. The majority of the population breeds in Southern Canada.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers eat primarily insects including flies, ants, beetles, and caterpillars. One interesting food item they have been known to eat are the berries of poison ivy.
Where to Find this Bird
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers are birds of the boreal forest. this habitat is the best place to find them during the breeding season in summer. They can also be found on the way up to their nesting sites in spring as well as their way back south in fall.
Eastern Kingbird
Identification
The Eastern kingbird has a blueish gray back, head, and wings, with a white underside, and white tip of their tail. They are a medium sized perching bird with a heavy looking bill compared to other types of flycatchers.
Range
Eastern Kingbirds winter in the Northwestern part of South America and move through Central America, Cuba, and Eastern Mexico on their way north to the United States and Canada. As their name would suggest, Eastern Kingbirds breed in the Eastern United States but can also be found in the Northwestern US, Southwestern Canada, and Southeastern Canada.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Eastern Kingbirds feed on insects which they catch in typical flycatcher fashion by flying from a perch, grabbing the insect in mid air or off of vegetation, and landing back on the same perch again. Typical fare includes wasps, grasshoppers, crickets, moths, beetles, and more.
Where to Find this Bird
Eastern Kingbirds can be found in a variety of different habitats including open savannas. marshy areas, and edge habitat. They can be seen perching relatively low in trees and bushes. Look for them flying from their perches for short periods of time and returning to the same place again.
Western Kingbird (Uncommon)
Identification
Western Kingbirds can be identified by their brown wings, gray back and head, and bright yellow underside.
Range
Western Kingbirds winter in parts of Central America and Mexico. They move up north during migration and end up in the Western half of the United States and Southwestern Canada. Their breeding range goes as far east as Minnesota and Texas, but some individuals end up west of their expected range on an annual basis.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Western Kingbirds forage in the same way that other flycatchers do, feeding mostly on insects by catching them in mid air. In addition to many different insect species, they also eat some types of berries.
Where to Find this Bird
Western kingbirds can be found in open areas with few trees such as scrubland, farms, savannas, and grasslands.
In Wisconsin, Western Kingbirds are rare visitors with a few reports typically coming in each year during spring migration or sometimes even fall migration. Keep an eye out for them along migratory flyways.
Say’s Phoebe (Rare)
Identification
Say’s Phoebes are brownish gray with a distinctive peach colored underside. They have a slightly darker head, wingtips, and tail than the rest of their body.
Range
Say’s Phoebes winter in Northern Mexico and move into the Western United States, parts of Western Canada, and Alaska to breed. They live year round in some of the Southwestern states and in parts of Mexico. Their native breeding range typically doesn’t go east of Nebraska and the Dakotas.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Say’s Phoebes diets are comprised of insects ranging from beetles, to grasshoppers, to bees and wasps. They forage in mid air as well as on the ground where they will sometimes land to grab an insect.
Where to Find this Bird
Say’s Phoebes live in areas with few trees such as scrub land, canyons, fields of sagebrush, and even urban places. Typically areas that are flat and open are ideal places to find Say’s Phoebes.
In Wisconsin, Say’s Phoebes seem to show up every couple of years but the location is fairly random with both Milwaukee, and Madison being places that they have been reported. In the state, they seem to be found most often in open areas near water such as wet meadows and around ponds.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Rare)
Identification
The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is quite possibly one of the most recognizable birds in the United States. They have brown wings, a blueish gray head and chest, orange sides, and salmon colored feathers under their wings. Of course, they also have an extremely long, forked tail. This tail can be varied in size with some individuals having a very long tail and some having a more modest one.
Juveniles have less extravagant colors and shorter tails.
Range
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers winter in Central America and Mexico. They then make the relatively short trip to states in the South-central part of the Country. The states Scissor Tailed Flycatchers typically breed in are Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and Missouri among a few others. Although this range is more limited than other flycatcher species, they are known for their vagrancy as reports of this species appear in every state in the continental US.
Diet and Foraging Behavior
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are mostly insectivorous with grasshoppers, crickets, and other similar creatures making up the largest portion of their diet. These birds can be seen perching on wires, and other structures as they survey for insects. In addition, they will also eat berries on occasion.
Where to Find this Bird
Cruising country roads in the native range of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher will usually turn up multiple individuals of this species. They can also be found around farms as well as in more urban environments such as parks and around cities.
In Wisconsin, a few Scissor-tailed Flycatchers typically show up each year with most of them being reported along Lake Michigan.
Summary
Flycatchers can certainly be a tough group of birds to differentiate from one another, but with a little bit of knowledge on their expected habitats and identification tips, it can be a lot less stressful. In the end, for how many of them look the same, others look extremely different and flycatchers as a group are quite fascinating.
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