Willow Flycatcher

The Willow Flycatcher is a classic example of the notoriously difficult-to-identify Empidonax flycatcher genus, showing plain olive-brown upperparts, a faint, often indistinct eye-ring, and pale wing bars, with little to visually separate it from several close relatives. As its name suggests, it favors dense willow and shrub thickets, particularly in wet areas, where its buzzy, sneezing song is often the only reliable way to confirm identification.

This species includes the federally endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher subspecies (E. t. extimus), whose riparian willow habitat in the desert Southwest has been severely reduced, making habitat conservation a priority for that population even though the species as a whole remains widespread and secure.

Key Field Marks

• Plain olive-brown to grayish-brown upperparts with little contrast
• Faint or absent white eye-ring (unlike most other Empidonax species)
• Two pale, buffy-white wing bars
• Whitish throat grading to a pale olive-washed breast and yellowish belly

Similar Species

• Alder Flycatcher is virtually identical in appearance and best separated by voice; the Alder Flycatcher's song is a more explosive free-beer compared to the Willow's sneezy fitz-bew.
• Least Flycatcher is smaller with a more prominent white eye-ring.
• Positive identification among Empidonax flycatchers, including this species, almost always requires hearing the voice.

Willow Flycatchers breed across much of the United States and southern Canada, favoring dense shrubby vegetation, especially willow thickets, in wet meadows, along streams, and around wetland edges. Distribution and habitat needs vary by subspecies, with the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher restricted to riparian willow and tamarisk habitat in the arid Southwest.

The species winters in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, arriving on breeding grounds later in spring than many other flycatchers.

Voice

Sings a sneezy, emphatic fitz-bew, the primary field mark distinguishing it from the nearly identical Alder Flycatcher; also gives a liquid whit call note.

Feeding

Sallies from a low perch within shrubby vegetation to catch flying insects, and also gleans prey from leaves and twigs.

Nesting

Builds a compact cup nest of grass and plant fibers low in a willow or other dense shrub, typically within a few feet of the ground; the Southwestern subspecies' dependence on specific riparian willow habitat has made nest-site availability a key conservation concern.