BirdNote; The Sneeze of the Willow Flycatcher

This is BirdNote.

[Willow Flycatcher song “fitz-bew” and stream]

We’re walking along a stream, and we hear what sounds like a sneeze in a dense thicket. [Willow Flycatcher] Should we reach for our binoculars -- or maybe a handkerchief? [Willow Flycatcher song “fitz-bew”]

This sneezy song belongs to a Willow Flycatcher. A small, gray-green bird singing from atop a nearby shrub. [Willow Flycatcher “fitz-bew”]

Willow Flycatchers nest across the northern two-thirds of the U.S. and southernmost Canada. A subspecies, known as the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, nests in the Southwest, as far east as Texas. [Southwestern Willow Flycatcher]

In June, territorial males sang almost nonstop [“fitz-bew”] and with a little less gusto in July. Before long, their sneezy songs will fall silent. By late August, with their young fledged and out on their own, Willow Flycatchers begin a long migration, to winter in southern Central America. Some will travel 4,000 miles to reach southern Panama — quite a trek for a bird weighing less than half an ounce.

The Southwestern Willow Flycatcher was listed as endangered in 1995. [Southwestern Willow Flycatcher] It’s just one of 300 bird species that can benefit each time Congress votes to continue funding the Endangered Species Act. Learn more at BirdNote.org.