Ash-throated Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher
Compared to its close relative, the Great Crested Flycatcher, the Ash-throated Flycatcher is slightly smaller, and its coloring is more subtle.

Male and female Ash-throated Flycatchers look alike. They are grayish brown on their back and head and have a bushy crest. The throat and breast are pale gray; the belly and undertail coverts are pale yellow. The tail is dusky brown above but rufous and brown on the underside. In juveniles, the rufous coloration extends the entire length of the tail.

Ash-throated Flycatchers are fairly common, and in some places quite abundant, throughout most of the western United States and Mexico. The breeding range extends as far north as Oregon and Washington, as far east as central Texas, and as far south as central Mexico.

Ash-throated Flycatchers are generalists when it comes to breeding habitat. They breed in chaparral, mesquite thickets, oak scrub, dry plains spotted with trees or cacti, deserts, and open deciduous and riparian woodlands.

Like other flycatchers, Ash-throated Flycatchers forage for food by "hawking." From a perch, they make short flights, or sallies, to capture nearby flying insects. They seldom return to the same perch. Ash-throated Flycatchers also glean prey items, such as mites, millipedes, worms, and spiders from the ground and tree bark, and they occasionally eat small fruits and berries.

Pair formation and territoriality are not well described in Ash-throated Flycatchers. Birds arrive on the breeding grounds as early as March in Texas and California, April in New Mexico, and May in Washington. It is unknown how soon after they arrive that they begin to breed, but egg dates show that breeding can begin as early as mid-March in southern California and May in Arizona and Texas.

Ash-throated Flycatcher Range Map

Ash-throated Flycatchers are as indiscriminate about nest sites as they are about breeding habitat. Nests are found 3 to 20 ft (1 to 6 m) off the ground in natural cavities, including tree cavities, hollow stumps, cacti, abandoned woodpecker holes, and behind loose bark. Nests can also be nestled in the dry floral stems of yucca or agave plants and in not-so-natural cavities such as metal fence posts, drain pipes, tin cans, mailboxes and nest boxes.

The female fills the nest cavity with rootlets, grass, weed stems, and dry cow or horse dung. After forming a cup, she lines it with fine grasses and matted hair or fur. Unlike Great Crested Flycatchers, female Ash-throated Flycatchers seldom add snakeskin to their nests. While the female is building her nest, the male closely follows the female, singing and guarding her from the advances of other males.

Ash-throated Flycatchers aggressively defend their nest sites against conspecifics and other species. They have also been known to usurp freshly excavated cavities from small woodpeckers.

The average clutch size is usually four to five eggs, but clutches can contain from three to seven eggs which are oval, smooth, and slightly glossy. They have a creamy white to ivory, and sometimes pinkish white background color and are marked with fine or heavy streaks or blotches in browns, purples, and grays. The pattern of marking is similar to that of Great Crested Flycatcher eggs, but the marks are fewer.

The incubation period is 15 days, and the female alone incubates the eggs. Females are not "tight sitters," and they often leave the nest for hours at a time, especially during the hottest part of the day.

For the first few days after hatching, the young are brooded by the female. Both parents care for the nestlings. After 16 to 17 days, the young leave the nest, but the fledglings remain dependent upon the parents for food and protection for another two weeks.

Ash-throated Flycatchers raise only one brood per breeding season. Whether this species produces replacement clutches is unknown.

Ash-throated Flycatchers migrate at the end of the breeding season to Mexico and as far south as northeastern Costa Rica. In some winters, birds are spotted as far north as southwestern Arizona and southern Nevada.

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