Acadian Flycatcher
Empidonax virescens
Habitat
Understory
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
13 g
About This Species
Search shaded, moist deciduous forest, especially near streams and ravines, where this flycatcher perches quietly in the mid-story and sallies out to snatch flying insects before returning to the same perch. Its distinctive explosive call is often the easiest way to detect it, since the bird itself can sit still for long stretches in dense foliage. Breeding season in late spring and early summer is the best time to hear it calling from a defended territory.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Watch from a trail without pushing into understory vegetation, since this species nests in a shallow cup low in a shrub or sapling that is easily disturbed or exposed by trampling nearby cover.
- It is protected under migratory bird law across its North American range, which prohibits disturbing active nests.
- If a bird begins giving alarm calls or making repeated short flights near you, you are likely close to a nest and should move away.
LCAvesPasseriformesTyrannidae
Seasonal Activity
773,410 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Tyrannidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Understory
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 13 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.