Least Flycatcher

Taxobox
name = Least Flycatcher
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

---

image_width = 256px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Tyrannidae
genus = "Empidonax"
species = "E. minimus"
binomial = "Empidonax minimus"
binomial_authority = (Baird, 1843)The Least Flycatcher, "Empidonax minimus", (also called chebec, after the sound it makes) is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest "Empidonax" flycatcher in eastern North America.

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, short bill and a short tail. The breast is washed with grey and the sides of the belly with yellow. It is similar in appearance to the larger Eastern Wood Pewee.

Their breeding habitat is open deciduous or mixed woods across Canada and the northern United States. They make a cup nest on a fork in a small tree.

These birds migrate to Mexico and Central America.

They wait on an open perch low or in the middle of a tree and fly out to catch insects in flight-(hawking), also sometimes picking insects from foliage while hovering-(gleaning). They sometimes eat berries.

The song is a dry "che-bec". The call is a sharp "whit".

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=4997 Least Flycatcher videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4670id.html Least Flycatcher - "Empidonax minimus"] - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Least_Flycatcher.html Least Flycatcher Species Account] - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species/least_flycatcher_info.htm Least Flycatcher Information and Photos] - South Dakota Birds and Birding
* [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=least+flycatcher&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Least Flycatcher photo gallery] VIREO [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Empidonax+minimus Photo-High Res--(Close-up)]