For the Birds: Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher
Photo by John Hopkins

By Christine Southwick

Which bird wears a pale tuxedo while loudly demanding his three beers?

This large (7 and 1/2 inches) flycatcher really is olive-sided with a white breast, but because it is always seen high up at the top of the tallest tree or snag, its sides look darker, and its breast looks very white.

Sitting straight up, the Olive-sided Flycatcher sallies forth from the top of the tallest branch to catch its larger insect meals.

The female hides her nest for 3-4 eggs on a horizontal coniferous branch. Both parents feed their young, and are vigorous defenders of their nest — noisily taking on would-be predators, and usually winning. The family group normally stays together until they start their migration southward.

Olive-sided Flycatchers have one of the longest migrations of Washington State birds. They usually pass through the City of Shoreline in late April-June and mostly breed in the Cascades or Canada’s boreal forests. We see them usually in August- September, at the start of their southern migration to Panama or even the Andes in northern South America. 

Olive-sided Flycatcher
Photo by Robert and Carolyn Howson

With a documented decline of 72% (from 1966-2002), the Olive-sided Flycatcher population appears to be diminishing rapidly due to loss of preferred habitat, possibly at both their winter grounds in South America, and their breeding grounds here in the States and Canada. Further study is required. What is known is that habitat is vitally important because of these contributing factors:

• small brood size
• long, drawn-out migration (with habitat destruction of feeding-rest stops along migration routes)
• and short breeding season

Olive-sided Flycatcher
Photo by Bill Anderson

Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the Olive-sided Flycatcher as a “Species of Concern”;  Partners-In-Flight considers them “a priority Species for Conservation”; and Canada has listed this species as “Species at Risk”.

So, listen for a loud “whip weedeeer”—“Quick, Three Beers”. When you hear that sound, distinct from other local birds, look for the highest branch in tall trees for a large straight-up bird wearing a tuxedo. You will have found a migrating Olive-sided Flycatcher.