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Alder Flycatcher

Status Fairly common in summer. Breeds. Spring migrants are generally silent, but birds identified as this species usually appear in the second half of May (average 20 May, earliest 4 May). Other earlier Empidonax flycatchers, not identified to species, have been noted on 26 April 1969 and 1 May 1975 on Sable Island. The species is evenly distributed throughout the province in summer. After nesting is over, it is practically silent; this fact, coupled with its adroitness in keeping out of sight, add to the difficulty of determining dates of actual departure. Movements of this species and Least Flycatchers are conspicuous in late August, but stragglers are occasional into October (19 October 1973 on Seal Island; 11 October 1981, Halifax County, and 30 October 1982 on Sable Island).

Description Length: 13.5-15 cm. Adults: Olive-brown above with a tinge of greenish; often indistinct whitish gray eye ring; wings and tail dark brown, wings showing two bars; underparts grayish white on breast, pale yellow on sides and belly; throat white; bill blackish gray above, flesh-coloured below.

Breeding Nest: In low bushes in thickets, often in alders, and never more than 1-2 m from the ground. It is made wholly of grass, with coarser grasses used for the framework and finer grasses used for the lining. Sometimes plant down is added to the outside, apparently for decoration. A common characteristic is the addition of several long grass stems attached to the nest proper and allowed to hang down loosely over the sides of the nest. Eggs: 3-4; white, delicately marked with cinnamon spots scattered chiefly around the larger end. Laying begins about 15 June and continues to the end of the month. The earliest date for a complete set is 23 June 1904; the latest date is 7 July 1917, when a partially incubated set of three was examined at Gaspereau, Kings County. Two nests, each containing four fresh eggs, were found near Wolfville on 30 June 1915.

Range Breeds from central Alaska to Newfoundland, and as far south as Tennessee in the Appalachians. Its precise winter range is still undetermined, but presumably it winters widely in South America.

Remarks Unlike its close relative, the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, this bird frequents alder, blackberry, wild rose and other types of low-growing shrubbery that occur in drier places. It is a restless little creature, flitting here and there in a nervous manner and managing to keep out of sight most of the time.

The song, if such it may be called, is a short, wheezy, wee-bee-o difficult to trace to its source because the bird seems constantly to change its location in the thicket. When an intruder approaches an Alder Flycatcher on its nest, it slips off unobtrusively and, keeping well hidden behind a canopy of leaves, utters its scolding note, a soft, low p-r-e-t, given as if by a ventriloquist.

Outside the breeding season, the Alder Flycatcher can be differentiated from Least Flycatchers by the brownish rather than grayish cast to its back, especially the nape. The proportionately larger head of the Least Flycatcher, its more conspicuous eye ring, shorter extension of primary wing feathers, sharper call note and, at least at times, more "vibrant" tail flick, are also helpful distinctions. Nevertheless, sight records of migrants, especially of birds late in fall when stray western species are a possibility, should be dealt with cautiously.