Hammond's Flycatcher
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| Empidonax hammondii (Xantus de Vesey, 1858) |
Hammond's Flycatcher, Empidonax hammondii is a small insect-eating bird. It is a small Empidonax flycatcher, with typical size ranging from 12.5-14.5 cm.
Adults have greyish-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a conspicuous white eye ring, white wing bars, a small bill and a short tail. The breast is washed with grey and the sides of the belly with yellow. Many species of Empidonax flycatchers look closely alike. The best way do distinguish species apart is by voice, by breeding habitat and/or range.
Their preferred breeding habitat is coniferous forests in highlands of the western United States and Canada. They make a cup nest on a fork in a tree, usually high in a horizontal branch. Females usually lay 3-4 eggs.
These birds migrate to Mexico and Central America for the winter.
They wait on an open perch high or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight, also sometimes picking insects from foliage while hovering.
The song is a multi versed hoarse ssilit, greeep, silit, pweet. The call is a sharp peek.
The name of this bird commemorates William Alexander Hammond.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Empidonax hammondii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
