Dusky Flycatcher

In the mountains and foothills of western North America, the Dusky Flycatcher is an unobtrusive little songbird of open coniferous woodlands, aspen groves, chaparral, and scrubby or streamside thickets. Olive-gray above, with a bold eyering and two wing bars, Dusky Flycatchers wear the classic markings of an Empidonax Flycatcher and can be hard to distinguish from other species. Dusky Flycatchers forage for flying insects but stay fairly low within the vegetation, frequently giving a brief and crisp wit call.

About Dusky Flycatchers

Among the confusing Empidonax Flycatchers in the west, birders know the Dusky as a bird in the middle. It is intermediate in size and shape between the Hammond’s Flycatcher and Gray Flycatchers. Its breeding habitat is also intermediate, at middle elevations in the mountains, where tall conifers stand among shrubby low thickets. Pioneer ornithologists in the west often confused the Dusky and Gray Flycatchers, and they debated for years whether or not
there were really two species.

Today, we will be delving into the lives of these birds. We will be covering all aspects of them, ranging from what they look like to where they live to how they behave. Hopefully, through this article, you will be able to distinguish between them and their closely related cousins. We will be discussing:

● Dusky Flycatcher Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Dusky Flycatcher Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Dusky Flycatcher Range and Migration, Nesting

GET KIDS BIRD WATCHING

Dusky Flycatcher Color Pattern

These birds are sexually monomorphic, meaning that males and females look the same and do not exhibit any differences. Their upper parts are grayish olive to grayish brown, with their underparts mostly whitish with a varying amount of yellow wash. Their throat is whitish, while their outer tail feathers also have whitish edges. They have a conspicuous eye-ring that may extend towards the lores, almost making it seem that these birds are wearing glasses. The bars on their wings are whitish and narrow, although these look broader and buffier on juveniles. Their bill is mostly dusky, but adults have a pale orange at the base of their lower mandible. Birds that have recently hatched have more yellow on their bills.

Description and Identification

Finding just the right brushy habitat for Dusky Flycatchers can take some trial and error. Listen for singing males in late May to early June and be familiar with the subtle differences between Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatcher songs. Hammond’s Flycatchers use higher perches in mature forests but are sometimes right next to Dusky’s shrubbier habitats. Dusky Flycatchers often have their own favorite perches for hunting, but these are sometimes obscured by vegetation, so be prepared to listen and look carefully.

Dusky Flycatcher Song

Like Hammond’s Flycatchers, these birds have 3 basic elements within their songs. The first is a 2 syllabled “prll-it” that rises in frequency. The second is a rough, low-pitched “prrdrrt”, and the third is a clear and high-pitched “pseet”. The song sequence consists of all 2 elements given in the order above, or with the elements presented singly or in couplets. They may repeat these elements, or they may make a twittering call note “d-d-d-d”, especially during incubation feeding. The three most common song forms comprise only 1 or 2 of the possible elements, generally being “prll-it, or prll-it, prrdrrt, or prrll-it, pseet”.

Their songs are marginally more varied than their close relatives, with the third element distinctly monosyllable rather than 2-syllabled. They are quiet birds during migration and winter, but their advertising songs are frequently given out after arrival on breeding grounds. Once pairing has occurred, males deliver a shortened version of the song in which the terminal element “cheek chewee” is left out. “Du-hic” vocalizations are also heard early in spring.

Dusky Flycatcher Size

Dusky Flycatchers are small, slight songbirds that are 5.1–6 inches long, with a weight of 0.3–0.4 ounces. They have short, pointed bills and relatively short, pointed wings that have a wingspan of 7.9–9.1 inches. Their tail appears to belong because of the shorter primary feathers. Overall, their proportions make them larger than Yellow-rumped Warblers and smaller than Black Phoebes.

Dusky Flycatcher Behavior

These birds are “sit and wait” predators that take most of their food on the wing. They occasionally also drop from low perches to the ground to capture insects from low-growing forbs. Many of them also pick insects off leaves and twigs.

Aggressive displays to intruding males include tail pumping, tail spreading, crest raising, bill snapping, chasing, combat, gaping, and body fluffing. Tail pumping is thought to be a moderate form of aggression in Dusky Flycatchers, in which the tail is quickly moved forward and then rapidly returned to its original position. Tail spreading is simply a spreading or fanning of the rectrices and is often accompanied by tail pumping. Raising the crest makes the head appear larger and occurs with high levels of aggression. Bill snapping is the audible, rapid clicking of the mandibles, and it mainly occurs in threatening contexts.

Once they arrive on the breeding grounds, male Dusky Flycatchers establish a territory of about around 2 acres by singing from perches around the territory. They perform fluttering song flights in which they spiral downward from treetops, delivering a rapid series of call notes. Females arrive in breeding areas a week or so later than males. Males sing vigorously through much of the day until finding a mate and then sing less often during chick-rearing. Males perform a courtship display in which they raise the head, open and flutter the wings, and raise and quiver the tail while hopping between branches and calling. Females inclined to mate perform a similar display, then crouch. They are monogamous in their mating system, but there have been studies that showed that a minority of the nests had 2 males and one female raising the young.

Dusky Flycatcher Diet

Dusky Flycatchers eat mostly insects that they catch in flight. They perch quietly, scanning the environment, then fly quickly upward or outward to capture the insect. They occasionally pluck insects from the ground or from vegetation as well. During the breeding season, most Dusky Flycatchers forage in brushy areas or the lower levels of trees. Their known prey items include butterflies, moths, caterpillars, wasps, bees, grasshoppers, damselflies, bugs, flies, and beetles. Once they capture their prey, the birds return to a perch to consume it, sometimes first whacking it against a branch to subdue it or soften it up.

Dusky Flycatcher Habitat

In the western mountains, Dusky Flycatchers nest in open, brushy environments such as thickets, mountain chaparral, aspen groves, and shrubby stream corridors. Usually, these places have at least some scattered trees. They move into disturbed habitats readily, including old burn areas, powerline corridors, the edges of ski runs, as long as they feature a combination of brushy habitat and some trees. In the understory, willows, alders, laurels, manzanitas, bitterbrush, deer brush, sage, chokecherry, serviceberry, currants, and plums. Some more plants they eat are wild cherry, hazel, dogwood. mallow ninebark, and mountain mahogany. While trees include pines, firs, Douglas-firs, junipers, spruces, aspens, birches, maples, oaks, and cottonwoods.

Migration seasons have them passing through many habitats, from brushy stream corridors and chaparral up through high elevations. For example, during spring migration in Arizona, Dusky Flycatchers might be more numerous in mountains than in valleys. Even green spaces in cities may harbor a few migrants. On their wintering grounds, Dusky Flycatchers select habitats similar to their breeding grounds, mostly brushy areas in oak scrub and pine-oak habitats, arroyos, and arid scrub where vegetation is relatively tall and dense. They avoid grazed environments, but in some areas move in soon after grazing ceases and shrubs regenerate.

Range and Migration

These birds breed throughout the western Rocky Mountains of Canada and the United States. Their elevational range is broad, with migration seasons taking them towards the shrubby and desert regions of Arizona and Mexico. They are also passage migrants over the deserts of the south-western region of the United States, the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts. They make frequent stops along with these areas as they head towards their wintering grounds.

Dusky Flycatcher Lifecycle

Dusky Flycatchers have 1 brood a year, each with an approximate clutch size of 2–5 dull white eggs. Incubation is carried out entirely by the female, typically for about 15–16 days. When the chicks hatch, they emerge naked with their eyes closed and are completely helpless for the first few days. The young are brooded by females but are fed by both parents. After another 15–20 days, the young leave the nest, but they may be fed by their parents for another 3 weeks. The exact age at which they learn to fly is unknown.

Nesting

Their nests are placed in a tree or a shrub about 3–17 feet off the ground, usually in an area of dense undergrowth that has plenty of perches for hunting. Nest construction is carried out by the female, who weaves a cup out of woven grasses and plant material lined with grass, hair, plant down, lichen, and feathers. The resulting proportions of the nest amount to an average of 3 inches across and 3 inches tall, with the interior cup 2 inches across and 1.4 inches deep.

Anatomy of a Dusky Flycatcher

Dusky Flycatchers are small, slight songbirds that are 5.1–6 inches long, with a weight of 0.3–0.4 ounces. They have short, pointed bills and relatively short, pointed wings that have a wingspan of 7.9–9.1 inches. Their tail appears to be longer because of the shorter primary feathers. Overall, their proportions make them larger than Yellow-rumped Warblers and smaller than Black Phoebes.

Final Thoughts

Populations of these birds have remained more or less stable between 1968 and 2015, making them a species of low conservation concern. This could be attributed to the fact that they benefit from some types of habitat disturbance, with some types of logging increasing the amount of naturally occurring shrubby habitats within forests. However, their populations are threatened by shrublands that are converted for agricultural use or are used as grounds for grazing by livestock. The clearing and channelizing of steam corridors also pose a significant threat to them.

Despite these threats, it is a blessing that the populations of these confusing birds have managed to remain stable. They have baffled and confused ornithologists for the sheer similarities that they hold with other species for long, but the differences that come up reinforce the belief that the avian world is full of the most subtle nuances. There are few
greater pleasures for a birder than to be capable of accurately distinguishing between two seemingly identical species. With this in mind, you too can grab a pair of binoculars and try to identify some of the most notorious birds in the world.

Ornithology

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At the Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for IdentifyingDusky Flycatchers

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Dusky Flycatchers are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Dusky Flycatcher Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Dusky Flycatcher. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders For Dusky Flycatchers

There are many types of bird feeders. Bird feeders are a great addition to your backyard. Bird feeders will increase the chances of attracting birds drastically. Both kids and adults will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market and it is important to find the best fit for you and your backyard.

Bird Houses For Dusky Flycatchers

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.