| Scientific Name |  Click photo to enlarge. Photo by Terry Sohl. |
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| Empidonax alnorum Brewster - ATBI Database: Specimen Records | |||||
| Common Name | |||||
| Alder flycatcher | |||||
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | |
| Animalia | Chordata | Aves | Passeriformes | Tyrannidae | |
| Animals | Chordates | Birds | Perching Birds | Flycatchers | |
The Alder flycatcher is so like the Willow flycatcher (Empidonax trailli) that it is difficult to impossible to distinguish between the two species when they are not vocalizing, and indeed, they used to be clumped together as a single species, the Trail’s flycatcher. Careful research indicates that they are separate species.
Both extend their breeding ranges down the spine of the Appalachian Mountain chain to the scrub and mountain riparian habitat of northeastern Tennessee and northwestern North Carolina, though there are no breeding records in the Park for either. Autumn records, non-singing observations, and records from before the two species were distinguished cannot safely be assigned to one or the other of these species.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Length: 10.8 – 14.6 cm
Physical characteristics: The Alder and Willow flycatchers have flat foreheads and peaks on the rear of their crowns, giving their head a triangular shape when viewed in profile. Their lower mandibles are orange. They have faint, narrow eye rings, which are often more noticeable on the Alder flycatcher. Their upperparts are brownish-olive; often the Alder flycatcher's underparts are more olive. Two white bars mark their wings. They have an olive wash on the breast; otherwise their underparts are white. Sexes are similar.
Voice: Song. Song recorded by Gregory Gough.
Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter: Alder flycatcher
DISTRIBUTION
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Breeding: The Alder flycatcher occurs in southwestern Canada and the northern half of the continental United States. Click on the map on the left to see the breeding range as determined by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). |
| Map not available. | Winter: This bird is a neotropical migrant who winters from southern Mexico to Central America and northern South America. |
 Click maps to enlarge. |
In Park: It is expected to be a rare to occasional migrant through the Park. A male was heard and captured at Purchase Knob during late June of 2007, indicating that it might breed in the Park on occasion. |
NATURAL HISTORY
Breeding habitat
This species prefers a breeding site near water, in marshes, swamps, scrubby areas or thickets (especially willow), with dense vegetation.
Mating system
The Alder flycatcher is monogamous and single brooded.
Nest
The male accompanies the female while she chooses a nesting site. The nest is usually placed in a fork or a horizontal limb of a shrub. It is a cup, woven by the female of plant fibers, dried grass, bark strips and weed stems, and lined with hair, feathers and grass.
Eggs
3 – 4 creamy white or buff eggs, marked with browns at the larger end, are laid in a clutch. 18mm (0.7'').
Chick development
The female incubates the eggs for 12 – 13 days. The chicks are altricial at hatching. Both parents feed the nestlings. The chicks fledge after 12 – 14 days in the nest.
Diet
The diet is made up of mostly insects, though berries and seeds may be taken at certain times of the year. This flycatcher forages from an open perch and will hawk after flying insects. It also hovers and gleans insects from the foliage.
Parasites
An unidentified feather mite was collected from an Alder flycatcher in the Park in 2007.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Special Protection Status
Rangewide: N/A
Region: This species is considered “significantly rare” by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program and is tracked in Tennessee.
In Park: All plants and animals are protected within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Collection requires a permit, which is usually granted only for research or educational purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Maps
Breeding: Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2005. Version 6.2.2006. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Winter: N/A
In Park: Discover Life in America - All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. 2007. The ATBI Database. http://tremont22.campus.utk.edu/ATBI_start.cfm, Discover Life in America, Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738.
Photographs
Terry Sohl, South Dakota Birds -- Photo Gallery.
Song or Call
Gregory Gough, Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html
Text
Camille Sobun and Susan Ann Shriner, 2003. Paul Super, 2007.
Web page
REFERENCES
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed. The Union, Washington, D. C.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.
Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.
Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.
