Willow Flycatcher Gallery
Empidonax traillii
eBird describes the Willow Flycatcher this way: Small flycatcher, extremely similar to several other species. Prefers shrubby open areas, especially around marshes. Western population prefers understory in riparian woods. Brownish above and pale below with barely any eyering. Wings dark with distinct white wingbars (brownish in Western population). Nearly identical to Alder Flycatcher; once considered the same species. Also compare with Least Flycatcher, which is very similar but has slightly shorter wingtips and a bolder eyering. Willow is larger, larger-headed, and longer-billed than other species of small flycatcher in the West; also note lack of a distinct eyering. Best identified by voice: song is a sneezing “FITZ-bew”; call is a dry “whit.” Silent birds, especially in migration, often best left unidentified. All About Birds adds this descriptive information for the Willow Flycatcher: Willow Flycatchers are drab brownish-olive birds that are best known for their voice—a sneezy fitz-bew that emanates from wet willow thickets across North America. They’re one of the infamous Empidonax flycatchers, a name virtually synonymous with difficult ID. Look for them singing their distinctive song on top of willows and other shrubs in early summer just after they arrive from Central and South America where they spend the winter. Although they’re common across the United States, the Southwestern subspecies is federally endangered.
I saw and photographed my first Willow Flycatcher at Christmas Mountains Oasis on my August 31, 2020, visit to that special place. I hope I got this id right!
“Cool Facts” about the Willow Flycatcher from All About Birds…
- Flycatchers don’t learn their songs from their parents, as many other birds do. Instead flycatchers hatch knowing their songs. Scientists tested this by raising Willow Flycatchers in captivity while letting them listen to an Alder Flycatcher sing its free-beer song. Despite hearing only this song all day, Willow chicks grew up to sing their species’ own fitz-bew.
- If a Brown-headed Cowbird lays its eggs in the nest of a Willow Flycatcher, the flycatcher may bury the cowbird eggs in the lining of the nest, or even build a completely new nest over the top of the first one to prevent the cowbird egg from hatching.
- Bird watchers that encounter a silent flycatcher often call it a Traill’s Flycatcher, because without a peep Alder and Willow Flycatchers are nearly impossible to separate in the field. In fact, before 1973, Alder and Willow Flycatchers were considered the same species, the Traill’s Flycatcher, and the Willow still retains the scientific name Empidonax traillii.
- When the two species are found together, the Willow Flycatcher will keep Alder Flycatchers out of its territory. But it expends more effort to keep out other Willow Flycatchers.
- The oldest recorded Willow Flycatcher was a female, and at least 11 years old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2010. She had been banded in the same state in 2001.