Ash-throated flycatchers begin to emerge
Ihave to admit, I don’t know much about ash-throated flycatchers. They’ve never been on my radar. I pay attention more to birds that come to birdfeeders and they do not. I was prompted to do some research when local backyard birder Jimmy Kiy emailed me a photo in mid-June. I think you can see why it caught my eye.
Like other flycatchers, the ashthroated eats insects, so many in fact that that it doesn’t need to drink water, getting all it needs from bugs. Although they do not need to drink, Kiy has photographed ash-throated flycatchers drinking at his birdbath.
You’ll see these birds mostly at eye-level perched on a limb or in a shrub. Watch as they fly out to snag an insect or two in flight, returning to the perch to eat. They eat insects including spiders, flies, wasps, bees, stink bugs and moths. Look for them mostly in the morning. Like other desert dwellers, they seek shade during the hottest part of the day.
This long slender flycatcher is grayish brown with a pale yellow belly, white breast and reddishbrown streaks under its tail and along wing edges. They are about eight inches long, larger than a bluebird but smaller than a robin. You’ll see ash-throated flycatchers mostly in open desert areas with piñon and juniper. They don’t like dense forests. We see them only during nesting season. They winter in southeastern Arizona and parts of Mexico and Central America.
Ash-throated flycatchers are secondary cavity nesters, meaning that they don’t create their own cavity but use whatever cavity they can find; old woodpecker holes, bluebird boxes, mailboxes, holes in fence posts or even pipes. They can be pretty creative in choosing nest sites.
They use twigs, grass, bark and other similar construction materials to build their nests and then line them with feathers and mammal hair, preferring the fur from rabbits. Standing dead trees often have old cavities so they are a common nesting location for these flycatchers. One of many bird-friendly reasons to leave old, dead trees standing. Ash-throated flycatchers have 1 to 2 broods in a season.
When alert, their crest feathers stand up in a notable, Kramerlike (Seinfield reference), way. These bushy looking heads are not unlike some other flycatchers. Most often, however, these feathers are only slightly peaked. Ash-throated flycatchers lean a bit forward and tip their head from side to side almost as if they are trying to figure something out.
Anne Schmauss is the co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Santa Fe and she loves to hear your bird stories. She is the author of For the Birds: A Month by Month Guide to Attracting Birds to Your Backyard and Birdhouses of the World.