Ash-throated Flycatcher Gallery
Myiarchus cinerascens
eBird describes the Ash-throated Flycatcher this way: Fairly large flycatcher, larger than a phoebe but smaller than a robin. Generally found in arid habitats with tall shrubs. Note the rather long, slender shape and often peaked crown. Plumage looks washed out; whitish throat, very pale yellow belly, and dull brown on top. Also look for rufous in the tail and wings. Distinguish from similar Great Crested Flycatcher by range, drab plumage, and voice. All About Birds adds this descriptive information about the Ash-throated Flycatcher: With its pale lemon belly and cinnamon tail, the Ash-throated Flycatcher is reminiscent of a desert just before sunset. Its subtle hues help it blend into its surroundings, but notes sputter out of its mouth all morning long, giving away its location. This genteel flycatcher tips its head side to side with seeming curiosity while perched among low oaks and mesquite trees. It is a die-hard bird of dry places that doesn’t need to drink water; it gets all it needs from the insects and spiders it eats.
I watched and photographed an Ash-throated Flycatcher on the afternoon of September 1, 2020 as I hiked Madera Canyon in the Davis Mountains. Glad I got to meet this bird!
“Cool Facts” about the Ash-throated Flycatcher from All About Birds…
- Like many other desert animals such as the kangaroo rat, Ash-throated Flycatchers don’t need to drink water. Instead they get it all from the food they eat.
- Growing new feathers is energetically costly. That might be why Ash-throated Flycatchers make a so-called “molt migration” after breeding to areas in Mexico that are flush with insects. The plentiful food provides energy and nutrients for the flycatchers’ growing feathers. Unlike some eastern migrants, Ash-throated Flycatchers take more than a month to grow new feathers.
- Ash-throated Flycatchers are secondary cavity nesters and they are good at finding places to put their nests—even unusual locations including pipes, fence posts, and clothes hanging on a line.
- Unlike most members of its genus, the Ash-throated Flycatcher only occasionally uses snakeskin in its nest. Only 5% of nests examined contained reptile skin, but 98% had mammal hair. Rabbit fur was the most frequently used.
- Everyone likes to be heard and that may go for birds as well. Researchers examined how loud birds sang in different environments. They found that in noisy environments some birds sang louder or changed their pitch to be heard over the noise, while other birds left the area altogether. In their experiments, Ash-throated Flycatchers in noisy environments sang at a slightly higher pitch than birds not subjected to increased noise.
- The oldest recorded Ash-throated Flycatcher was just under 12 years old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during a banding operation in California in 2008. It had been banded in the same state in 1997.
- The Ash-throated Flycatcher is a rare but regular vagrant to the East Coast. Individuals turn up nearly every year across the U.S. and they have been found in all coastal states and provinces. See where they have been seen at eBird.