ANIMAL ESTATE client 5.3: OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER
FOR ANIMAL ESTATE 5.0: PORTLAND
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Contopus cooperi
RANGE: The Olive-sided Flycatcher makes one of the longest migratory treks of all Nearctic migrants. According to Birds of North America , the bird spends winters as far south as the Andes. The times of year devoted to breeding is spent throughout most of Canada, northern parts of the US as well as some western states where it has become a Species of Concern due to significant declines in populations.
HABITAT: The Olive-sided Flycatcher perches amongst tall trees and snags where it sings its curious "quick, THREE BEERS!" song, and forages for large insects, such as bees. It breeds along forest edges, often where there have been burns, leaving dead trees for perching on top of.
COMMUNITY: A highly tyrannical species, both members of a monogamous pair aggressively defend their nest areas. Nesting territories are relatively large for a passerine bird; 1 pair may defend up to 40-45 ha. The Olive-sided Flycatcher produces 3-4 eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per pair per year.
HOME CONSTRUCTION: Nests are open-cup structures placed at various heights above the ground and well out from the trunk of a coniferous tree in a cluster of needles and twigs on a horizontal branch. link
THREATS: A loss of wintering habitats may be a cause of a serious decline in numbers.
INTERESTING FACTS: Olive-sided Flycatchers prey almost exclusively on flying insects, especially bees. They often forage from high, prominent perches at the tops of snags or dead tips or uppermost branches of live trees, from which they fly out (sallying) to snatch flying insects, and then return to the same or another prominent perch (Yo-Yo flight). This behavior has inspired a description of the species as "the Peregrine of flycatchers." link
Defends its nest aggressively. A pair was observed to knock a red squirrel off a nest limb and chase it away.
REFERENCES:
Birds of North America Online: Altman, Bob and Rex Sallabanks. 2000. Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online