Olive-sided flycatcher

Contopus cooperi

Photo by Mark Chappell (Arkive)

Common name:

olive-sided flycatcher (en); piui-boreal (pt); moucherolle à côtés olive (fr); pibí boreal (es); olivflanken-schnäppertyrann (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Tyrannidae

Range:

These birds breed across Canada, Alaska and the north-eastern United States, and also along the western United States down to California. they migrate south to winter in Central America and the Andes region of northern South America.

Size:

Olive-sided flycatchers are 18-20 cm long and weigh 32-37 g.

Habitat:

They breed in mountain and northern coniferous forests, at forest edges and in forest openings such as meadows and ponds. They winter in various forested tropical habitats.

Diet:

They eat flying insects, mostly bees.

Breeding:

Olive-sided flycatchers nest is an open cup of twigs, rootlets, and lichens, placed out near the tip of an horizontal branch of a tree, about 10 m above the ground. There the female lays 2-5 creamy white or buff eggs with brownish spots, which she incubates alone for 15-19 days while receiving food from the male. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 15-19 days after hatching. Each pair raises a single brood per year.

Conservation:

IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)

This species has a very large breeding range and a global population of 1,2 million individuals. The species has undergone a large decline, equating to a loss of over 75% of the population in the last 40 years, mostly caused by habitat loss and alteration of forest management practices that may limit breeding success. Loss of wintering habitat may also have a negative impact on this species.