Olive-sided Flycatcher

The Olive-sided Flycatcher is a songbird that you can find whistling throughout the coniferous mountain forests of North America. Their whistles are markedly distinct, and they are rather aggressive when there are intruders in their breeding territories. You can frequently find them in burned forests, with many dead trees hosting their populations as they provide perches and sufficient prey.

About Olive-sided Flycatchers

Despite resembling other songbirds, they undertake some of the longest migrations among all Nearctic birds. These passerine birds are plump, feisty, and fiercely energetic. They are the largest of the Pewees in North America and are sometimes considered to be the Kingbirds of their species. They remain perched on their high thrones as they sing their songs, often echoing throughout live and dead forests. Today, we will learn a little more about these abundant and enigmatic birds by going over:

● Olive-sided Flycatcher Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Olive-sided Flycatcher Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Olive-sided Flycatcher Range and Migration, Nesting

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Olive-sided Flycatcher Color Pattern

These large Flycatchers are named after their deep brownish to olive-gray plumages, shades that appear to be the darkest on the crown. Each side of their white breast and belly has distinct black patches. These patterns of colors often make them appear to have an unbuttoned vest. They have white feathers on their throat while the center of their breast and belly is radiant white. Their sides and flanks are often streaked and are a strongly contrasting olive-gray color, with occasional white patches visible along their flanks.

Their wings are dark and display subtle pale grayish bars along with more vivid whitish edges on their secondary and tertiary coverts. The bills of these birds are rarely all black, with the lower mandible pale and the upper mandible blackish; all birds have a dark tip on their bill. Both sexes look similar to each other in color. Juveniles strongly resemble adults but have more brown in their upper parts, wings, and tertiary feathers.

Description and Identification

Catching a glimpse of these birds with the naked eye can often be a challenging task. Their plumages offer camouflage against the foliage of the trees, and they typically remain high in the treetops when they sing. The easiest way to identify these birds is by keeping your ears out for their call, the distinct and rapid quick, three beers! song of the males, or the high-pitched short-paced calls of both sexes. Once you hear it, try to locate it to the source of the sound. These birds mostly sing from the high perches of coniferous treetops. Their heavy bill and stocky build can give them away to close observers.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Song

The most distinctive feature of these flycatchers is undoubtedly their song. The most commonly heard song is a loud and piercing whistle that is commonly transliterated as quick, three beers! It is a series of three notes that fluctuate in intonation; the second note rises in pitch from the first note before descending to a lower pitch in the final note. Other mnemonic renditions of this call include come right here and “whut-whee-tew”. This call can have different intensities, emphases, and other fluctuations in its general quality.

Males may also give out a gentler “peer-pip”, a series of consecutive notes with a relatively constant intonation. While males are far more vocal, females also sing occasionally. Females give out a far softer call than the males and may also be incomplete. Chicks begin to sing soon after they hatch, and only consist of partial sounds rendered as “pheww beers” or “dee deers”.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Size

Olive-sided Flycatchers are large, stocky, and barrel-chested birds that are around 7.1-7.9 inches in length. Their heads are large, and their heavy and long bills look disproportionately large for their size. They have long wings that have a wingspan of 12.4-13.6 inches, often dwarfing their tails in comparison. They are the largest of the Pewees and weigh around 1-1.4 ounces.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Behavior

As these birds typically spend most of their time in the treetops, they are not on the ground much. They generally have direct and fast flights with fast wing beats and sharp turns as they pursue their prey. Before returning to perch, they shorten their wingbeats into a flutter. Their agile movements have often led to comparisons with larger Kingbirds.

Although the social behavior of these Flycatchers is understudied, it is known that they can get extremely territorial during the breeding seasons. Pairs require a large area, and males actively chase rivals out of the area through tense pursuits. Pairs have rather strong bonds and are thought to be monogamous in many cases as they can survive failed nestings and renesting attempts and may even nest together for many consecutive years. Courtship rituals involve males chasing females around the territory before performing a short display. If interested, the females join them in their display. These birds are elusive and tend to keep to themselves, rarely ever joining mixed-species flocks.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Diet

Like other Flycatchers in the family, Olive-sided Flycatchers primarily feed on flying insects. They capture these insects in flight and often pursue them on extended hunts in order to catch them. Their prey mainly includes flying ants, wasps, bees, dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, and flies. During migration season, they also feed on various berries due to the lack of prey. They maintain a diet of berries and available insects.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Habitat

You can find these birds breeding in the boreal forest and in the western coniferous forests of North America. They are spread out over a large range and can occur anywhere from sea level to over 10,000 feet elevation in the mountainous regions of the Rocky Mountains. While they are mostly found inhabiting pine forests, they can also be found in forests of spruce, fir, Douglas-fir, hemlock, western redcedar, tamarack, and larch. They exhibit a clear preference for openings or edges in the forest, often choosing to nest in meadows, rivers, streamside regions, partially logged areas, burned forests, beaver ponds, bogs, and muskegs. Areas with dead or dying trees attract them as they provide exposed perches that give them a good view of their surrounding areas. On some occasions, they can also settle in rural human territories like farms, small towns, and orchards.

During the migration seasons, they can inhabit almost any type of forest but generally remain in semi-open areas while avoiding the deeper and denser regions. Their wintering grounds also make use of forests with gaps and edges, in both the highland and lowland forests of Central and South America. Proximity to a water source is not as important for these birds in their wintering grounds, but they place themselves near tall trees with snags in order to hydrate themselves.

Range and Migration

Most populations are long-distance migrants. They breed throughout Alaska, Canada, and the western regions of Mexico, with migration seasons taking them towards other regions of Mexico and Central America. While some flocks settle around Guatemala for the winter, others continue towards the northern regions of South America. Some flocks of birds travel thousands of miles between their breeding grounds, covering vast distances from Alaska to Bolivia. As a result of their long migrations, these birds often arrive late to their breeding grounds when it is almost summer, but may depart for their winter grounds as early as August.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Lifecycle

After mating, the female lays 2-4 small, whitish-pink eggs in her only brood of the season. Incubation lasts for about 14-17 days and is carried out by the female alone. The young hatch in a naked and helpless state and are entirely dependent on the parents for the first 2 weeks. Both parents feed the young, but it is unclear for how long. The first flight of these birds lasts around 21-23 days.

Nesting

Females choose the nest site in the territory of the male. The males occasionally help in making the selection. The site is generally on a horizontal branch that is away from the trunk and towards the tip. While the nests in the northern and eastern parts of their range are at lower heights, flocks in the western parts nest far higher in comparison. The lowest recorded nest was at a mere 5 feet off the ground, while the highest was at a staggering 197 feet high. Although they generally nest in coniferous trees, they may also nest in aspen, willow, oak, sycamore, alder, cottonwood, elm, and locust.

The construction of the nest is presumed to be carried out by the females. It is a loose, bulky cup that is very small. The foundation is made of twigs and rootlets. The interiors are then lined with grasses, finer rootlets, lichens, and conifer needles to keep it thoroughly insulated. The resulting proportions of the nest are around 4.6 inches across, with the interior cup being around 2.8 inches in diameter.

Anatomy of an Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatchers are stocky, stout Pewees that are barrel-chested. They have large heads and heavy, long bills that seem to be too large for their size. They have long wings that aid them in agile flights; these long wings also make their tails look short in comparison. When compared to other birds, they are almost twice the size of Western
Wood-Pewees
and are smaller than Western Kingbirds.

Final Thoughts

The population of this species is in steady decline, with surveys suggesting that their numbers might have dropped by as much as 79% since 1970. Their conservation status categorizes them as Near Threatened, and they have been put on the Yellow Watch List by various environmental organizations. The decline is mainly because of the gradual loss of their wintering habitats, with increasing urbanization and deforestation limiting their wintering grounds after a long and tedious migration. Another factor behind their decline could be the policies that suppress forest fires and salvage logging, as they take advantage of conditions in recently burned forests.

These birds are as secretive as they are unique. They hardly ever come on land, but their sweet whistles have made a lasting impression on people through their unique quality. The innovative mnemonic renderings of their calls have also attracted a lot of attention to these large Flycatchers. As their populations decline, it gets more crucial to learn about these dwindling birds and to find ways of making sure that their calls don’t go extinct so that future generations can learn and experience them.

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 Identifying Olive-sided Flycatchers

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Olive-sided 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.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Iron On Patches

Kids, Youth, and Adults love to collect our Bird Watching Academy & Camp iron-on patches. Our bird-watching patches help you keep track of the birds you have seen and identified. You can also display the patches on our Bird Watching Academy & Camp banners.

The Olive-sided Flycatcher is a great iron-on patch to start your collection with. The patches are durable and can be sewn on or ironed on to just about anything.

Olive-sided Flycatcher Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Olive-sided 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 Olive-sided 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.

Best Bird Houses For Olive-sided 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.

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