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Buff-breasted Flycatcher

ID Info
  • Buff-breasted Flycatcher
  • Buff-breasted Flycatcher
  • Buff-breasted Flycatcher  video
Silhouette FlycatchersFlycatchers
Buff-breasted FlycatcherEmpidonax fulvifrons
  • ORDER: Passeriformes
  • FAMILY: Tyrannidae

Basic Description

With a sandy brown back and warm buffy blush across the chest, the Buff-breasted Flycatcher is one of the brightest and easiest to identify of the famously confusing Empidonax flycatchers. This tropical species reaches extreme southern Arizona and New Mexico (including the beautiful "Sky Islands" region), where it lives in mountain canyons with open pine-oak forests, particularly ones that burn regularly. It typically forages by sitting upright on a favored perch and flying out to catch insects in midair.

More ID Info
image of range map for Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Year-roundBreedingMigrationNonbreeding
Range map provided by Birds of the World
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Find This Bird

Buff-breasted Flycatchers can be easy to find in spring and early summer when males are singing their short chee-lick or chee-lick chou song. Watch for these rather small, inconspicuous birds flitting about in the crown of large pines, or flying out short distances from a slender perch and then returning to the same spot.

Other Names

  • Mosquero Pechicanelo (Spanish)
  • Moucherolle beige (French)
  • Cool Facts