Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
| Empidonax flaviventris | Order: Passeriformes | Family: Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) |
This endearing Empidonax flycatcher nests in bogs and boreal forests in Canada and the northern Midwest and New England. The yellow wash of the belly and throat in combination with the clear eye rings and wing bars and the entirely bright orangey lower mandible make it fairly easy to identify. It’s very active in the lower- and mid-story forest, and can be tricky to photograph, but patience is rewarded.
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers make a rising per-wee call that can be confused with Eastern Wood-Pewees, and a hoarse che-bunk that can be confused with the shorter, more emphatic che-bek of Least Flycatchers, but only the Yellow-bellied makes both types of calls.
Like other flycatchers, they sally out from branches to grab and eat flying insects, but these little guys also eat some fruits, including poison ivy berries.
They have a very short nesting period, and so are one of the earliest birds to appear on their southward migration starting in late July and especially August. For some reason they often turn up in the same place in the back of my backyard every August. They winter in Central America.