Yellow-Bellied Flycatchers Are In and Over the Eastern United States

Summary: Yellow-bellied flycatchers, as fall migrants, are assembling still along northeastern borders or already in or over the southeastern United States.

yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) in breeding habitat; Parc National des Grands-Jardins (Grands-Jardins National Park), southeastern Québec, eastern Canada; Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:46: Simon Pierre Barrette (Cephas), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Yellow-bellied flycatchers are among the North American flycatchers that annually appear in and over the eastern United States in September, October and earliest November and in latest March, April and earliest May.

Acadian (Empidonax virescens) and great crested (Myiarchus crinitus) flycatchers breed in the eastern United States even as yellow-bellied flycatchers brave northeastern breeding-place and southeastern migration-route states. Alder (Empidonax alnorum), least (E. minimus), olive-sided (Contopus cooperi) and willow (E. traillii) flycatchers conduct breeding and migrating seasons, like yellow-bellied flycatchers, respectively northeastward and southeastward. Yellow-bellied flycatchers draw grasses, mosses, rootlets and weed stems into signature nests lined with black plant fibers; fine grasses, moss stems and rootlets; and pine needles.

Mated, mature female yellow-bellied flycatchers establish each season's one-brood nest in needle-covered, twig-hidden, ground-level to 2-foot (0.61-meter-) high fallen or overhanging-tree roots, moss hummocks or mounds.

Mated, mature female yellow-bellied flycatchers fit into seasonal nests one-brooded, buff-cinnamon, brown, pink, purple-blotched, semi-glossy, smooth, sparse-speckled, subelliptical, white 0.67 by 0.51-inch (17 by 13-millimeter) eggs.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers, grouped scientifically by Spencer Baird (Feb. 3, 1823-Aug. 19, 1887), get each mother-to-be's seasonal, three to five-egg brood incubated and hatched within 15 days. Altricial (from Latin altrix, "nourisher"), helpless hatchlings and downy brown-olive nestlings have both parents as caregivers, feeders and teachers until they have independent nests as 13-day-olds. The Passeriformes (from Latin passer, "sparrow" and -formis, "shaped") perching order member includes among vocalizations abrupt brrrrt! and chu-wee! calls and che-bunk, che-lek and killink! songs.

The Tyrannidae (from Latin turannus, "tyrant" and Greek -ειδής, "-like") tyrant flycatcher family member journeys after fly, midge and mosquito prey and for berries and seeds.

Remote, secretive habitats and habits keep bird collectors and watchers from knowing about summer-occurring, winter-occurring yellow-bellied flycatchers other than during flight, foraging mating or parenting vocalizations.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers log big, green heads with yellow eye-rings, rounded crowns and olive-yellow throats; green backs with rounded, white-barred wings; dark-banded olive breasts; and yellow bellies. They manifest big, dark eyes; broad-based, dark bills; pale legs; and dark-clawed, one backward-pointing, three forward-pointing toes on anisodactylism (from Greek άνισος, "unequal" and δάκτυλος, "finger"). Yellow-bellied flycatchers, named scientifically Empidonax flaviventris (from Greek εμπι, "gnat" and αναξ, "master" and Latin flāvus, "yellow" and venter, "belly"), need long undulating, short foraging flights.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers observe 5.12 to 5.91-inch (13 to 15-centimeter) head-body-tail lengths, 7.09 to 7.87-inch (18 to 20-centimeter) wingspans and 0.28 to 0.53-ounce (8 to 16-gram) weights.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers parent hatchlings, nestlings and fledglings in the boggy, wet habitats of alder swamps and sphagnum-moss peatlands and the boreal habitats of coniferous, spruce forests.

Yellow-bellied flycatchers queue up in the breeding, summer months of June and July from Alaska through all Canadian provinces and territories, from Minnesota through New England. Four-plus-year life cycles require yellow-bellied flycatchers to range over the eastern United States on the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways as non-breeding fall and non-breeding spring migrants. Yellow-bellied flycatchers spend non-breeding, winter months between December and February in riverside lowland, second-growth forests and shaded coffee plantations, from Mexico, through Central America, to Panama.

For 15 years now, yellow-bellied flycatchers turn up in mid-September to trouble the last summer flies and mosquitoes around our eastern white pines and vernal pool.

Geographical distribution map of yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) shows breeding (orange), migration (yellow) and non-breeding (blue) locations; Wikimedia Commons page created Sunday, May 27, 2018, by Cephas via UploadWizard: Cephas (Simon Pierre Barrette), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) in breeding habitat; Parc National des Grands-Jardins (Grands-Jardins National Park), southeastern Québec, eastern Canada; Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:46: Simon Pierre Barrette (Cephas), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empidonax_flaviventris_GJ3.jpg

Geographical distribution map of yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) shows breeding (orange), migration (yellow) and non-breeding (blue) locations; Wikimedia Commons page created Sunday, May 27, 2018, by Cephas via UploadWizard: Cephas (Simon Pierre Barrette), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empidonax_flaviventris_map.svg

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J.O. Harrison. 2005. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Princeton NJ; and Oxford, England, UK: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides. Second edition.

Baird, W.M.; and S.F. Baird. "Tyrannula flaviventris, (nob.)." Pages 283-284. "Descriptions of Two Species, Supposed To Be New, of the Genus Tyrannula Swainson, Found in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. I (1841-'42-'43), nos. 28, 29 (July and August 1843): 283-285. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew & Thompson, 1843.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1779383
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"Bird Migration Routes." Last Updated 30 December 2013. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service > Wildlife & Habitat > Birds.
Available @ https://www.fws.gov/refuge/arctic/birds.html

BirdLfe International 2016. "Empidonax flaviventris." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22699839A93750697. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22699839A93750697.en
Available @ https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22699839/93750697

Farnsworth, A.; and D. Lebbin. 2020. "Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris)." In: J. Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie and E. de Juana. (Eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain: Lynx Edicions.
Available @ https://www.hbw.com/species/yellow-bellied-flycatcher-empidonax-flaviventris

Gross, D. A.; and P. E. Lowther. 2011. "Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris)." Version 2.0. In: A. F. Poole. (Ed.). The Birds of North America. Ithaca NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Available @ https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/yebfly/introduction

Ross, Greg. 2001. "Empidonax flaviventris" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Empidonax_flaviventris/

Schuyler, Tamara. "Tyrant Flycatchers." In: Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf, editors. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 10, Birds III: 269-289. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

"Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher." All About Birds.
Available @ https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-bellied_Flycatcher/id

"Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher Empidonax flaviventris." Audubon > Birds > Guide to North American Birds > Search.
Available @ https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-bellied-flycatcher

"Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher Empidonax flaviventris." Boreal Songbird Initiative > Comprehensive Guide to Boreal Birds > Search.
Available @ https://www.borealbirds.org/bird/yellow-bellied-flycatcher

"Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris)." In: T.S. Schulenberg. (Ed.). Neotropical Birds Online. Ithaca NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/yebfly
Available @ https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/yebfly/overview