Cooperative Living September 2019 - 27

The willow
t was along a swampy little pond
when a small, plain-looking bird
suddenly landed on a dead upright
branch amid a willow thicket. It
uttered a sharp, buzzy, " whit-fitzbew "
and sat briefly before flying out
at a flying insect, snapping it out of
the air and returning to its lookout
perch. This was my introduction to
the willow flycatcher.
There are four of our " small "
flycatchers that are part of the
family tyrannidae, but of the genus
empidonax. These four are so similar
in appearance that it is difficult to tell
them apart. One of these is the willow
flycatcher, which was once lumped
in with its lookalike cousin the alder
flycatcher. At that time they were
known as the Traill's flycatcher.
However, since 1970, the two have
been considered separate species
although their physical differences
are barely discernible. An expert has
trouble identifying them, even when
in the hand. Both species are about
5 ½ inches long and of similar colors
and markings. The other small
lookalike flycatchers are the least
flycatcher and Acadian flycatcher.
Actually a fifth species, the yellowbellied
flycatcher, which breeds
mainly in Canada, could also be listed
with this group. Both the willow
and the alder are found in similar
habitats, and both are found in
Virginia. But, most alder flycatchers
breed in Canada and Alaska while
most willows nest south of Canada.
While not great songsters, their
songs and calls are distinctive and
probably are the best way to identify
them. The call of the willow
flycatcher is described as " whitI
whit "
followed by buzzy
" fitz-bew, fitz-bew. " It
frequently flips and fans its
tail upward when doing so. Like
other flycatchers it is active,
restless and always on the move.
The willow flycatcher is basically
plain olive above with its crown and
hind neck slightly grayer and less
brownish. Its rump and upper tail
coverts are paler and more brownisholive.
The wings are darker, with
olive whitish wing bars and faint eye
rings. The sides of the head and neck
are paler and the throat is white. Its
underparts are dull white with pale
brownish-gray or olive flanks and its
belly is tinged with yellow. It tends to
be browner than the alder flycatcher.
The willow flycatcher favors swampy
willow thickets or other small
deciduous trees and shrubs adjacent
to ponds, slow-flowing streams,
swampy open areas of woodlands,
and even upland pastures with
brushy growths. It is most apt to be
seen in western Virginia in mountain
meadows with slow moving streams,
in willow thickets or brushy area
near water, or in clear cuts and open
areas with trees and brush nearby.
Males begin singing to stake out a
territory as soon as they arrive, which
is fairly late in spring. Females do
the nest-building and choose a spot
suspended above a fork in willows,
alder, box elder, dogwood, swamp
rose or bracken ferns. Generally it is
built low, 4 to 6 feet up, or in a clump
of dense vegetation on the ground.
The loosely built nest is constructed
of dried grasses, plant stems, plant
fibers like cattail fuzz, and lined
with finer grasses and animal hair.
flycatcher favors
swampy willow
thickets.
While the cup is neat, there is
loose dangling vegetation often
hanging down from the bottom. Two
to four creamy white or buffy-colored
eggs with brown and chestnut
markings are laid. Incubation takes
13-14 days and the young are fledged
in another 14-15 days. Both parents
feed the young who stay near the nest
and with the parents for a few more
days. One clutch is reared each year.
Willow flycatchers are often
parasitized by cowbirds but will build
a new lining over the cowbird eggs or
even build a whole new nest over
them to suffocate and destroy them.
These little birds forage in the lowgrowing
brush on insects from twigs
and branches or will choose a perch
atop a naked branch to wait for flying
insects to fly by, and then fly out to
catch them in typical flycatcher
fashion. Sometimes they will hover
over the leaves of bushes and pick
the insects off. Their diet consists of
damsel flies, wasps, flying ants and
beetles, crane flies, moths, butterflies
and other flies. Come fall, they will
turn to small wild berries. Willow
flycatchers nest throughout most of
the United States (except parts of the
Southeast) and in southern Canada.
Generally they have been increasing
their populations although a
subspecies of the southwestern U.S.
is endangered. It is unlikely that you
will ever see one in your backyard
except maybe during spring and fall
migrations. With the coming of late
summer and early fall they become
silent and now are even more difficult
to identify. They leave in September
to winter in southern Mexico, Central
America, Venezuela and Ecuador. 
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Cooperative Living September 2019

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