Hammond's Flycatcher

Empidonax hammondii

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family TYRANNIDAE - Subfamily Fluvicolinae

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A small and unassuming flycatcher of western North America, Hammond's Flycatcher breeds in mature coniferous forests. Hammond's Flycatcher looks very similar to Gray and Dusky flycatchers; all three species overlap in range, but differ in voice and habitat.

Cool Facts

• Early in the breeding season male Hammond's Flycatchers fight so vigorously defending their territories that they often become locked together in midair, fluttering to the ground.
• The Hammond's Flycatcher pulls wings off moths before consuming their bodies.

Description

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 22 cm (9 in)
• Weight: 8-12 g (0.28-0.42 ounces)

• Small flycatcher.
• Prominent eyering and wingbars.
• Back grayish.

• Belly and undertail coverts whitish or yellowish.
• White eyering, sometimes thicker behind eye.
• Upper mandible blackish; lower mandible mostly dark, with a yellowish base.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Immature

Similar to adult, but wingbars broader and more buff.

Similar Species

• Closely resembles Dusky and Gray flycatchers, whose ranges overlap in some areas with Hammond's. Habitat, song, and sometimes range are the best ways to distinguish among these species.
• Gray and Hutton's vireos also are small, drab, birds with white wingbars, but the vireos have a more horizontal perching posture and narrow, hooked bills.

Sound

Song has three distinct elements: a dry, abrupt two-syllable phrase; a low burry note; and a longer, rough two-syllable phrase. Various call notes, including a sharp pip.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from central Alaska southward through western Canada to California and western Colorado.

Winter Range

Winters in Mexico and Central America.

Habitat

Cool forests, especially coniferous or mixed forests with fir trees.

Food

Flying insects and caterpillars.

Behavior

Foraging

Takes insects on the wing; perches on dead branches and twigs between forays.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A compact cup of plant fibers and fine grass placed on large limb of conifer tree.

Egg Description

Creamy white, sometimes marked sparingly with small reddish-brown dots.

Clutch Size

3-4 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, eyes closed.

Conservation Status

Populations appear stable or increasing. The species' preference for mature forests suggests that logging of old-growth forests may pose an eventual threat.

Other Names

Moucherolle de Hammond (French)
Mosquerito passajero (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Sedgwick, J. A. 1994. Hammond's Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii). In The Birds of North America, No. 109 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.