The alder flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. The genus name Empidonax is from Ancient Greek empis, "gnat", and anax, "master". The specific alnorum is Latin and means "of the alders".
Region
North America and northern South America
Typical Environment
Breeds across the boreal and northern temperate zone from Alaska and Canada south into the northern United States, especially in wet shrublands and riparian thickets. Winters primarily in the northern Neotropics, from Venezuela and Colombia south through the western Amazon basin. Prefers alder and willow stands, bog margins, beaver ponds, and brushy stream edges during breeding. In winter, uses secondary growth, river edges, and forest borders with ample low shrub cover.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 2000 m
Climate Zone
Other
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Part of the notoriously similar Empidonax flycatchers, it is best identified by voice—its emphatic “fee-bee-o” song—rather than plumage. Formerly lumped with the Willow Flycatcher as “Traill’s Flycatcher,” it was split based on vocal and breeding habitat differences. It favors wet thickets with alders and willows, often nesting low over water or boggy ground.
Temperament
solitary and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with frequent sallies
Social Behavior
During breeding, individuals defend small territories in wet thickets and riparian scrub. Pairs form seasonally; the female builds a small open-cup nest low in shrubs, often in alder or willow, and lays 3–4 eggs. The female incubates, and both adults feed nestlings; brood parasitism by cowbirds occurs locally.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Song is an emphatic, buzzy fee-bee-o or free-bee-oo, with the accent usually on the second syllable. Calls include a sharp pit or pik note. Males sing from exposed perches to advertise territory and are best distinguished from Willow Flycatchers by this vocalization.
Plumage
Olive-brown upperparts with a grayish-olive head, whitish underparts lightly washed olive on the breast and flanks, and two pale wing bars on dusky wings. A faint to moderate white eye ring is typical. The bill is short and broad with a yellow-orange lower mandible.
Diet
Takes small flying insects by sallying from low to mid-level perches, and also gleans prey from foliage. Diet includes flies, mosquitoes, midges, beetles, wasps, moths, caterpillars, and leafhoppers, as well as spiders. Occasionally consumes small berries in late summer and on migration when insect availability declines.
Preferred Environment
Feeds along edges of alder and willow thickets, bogs, beaver ponds, and brushy stream corridors. Often hunts from semi-exposed perches, returning repeatedly to favored lookout points. In winter, uses shrubby edges and secondary growth near water.
