Olive-sided Flycatcher

Contopus borealis Swainson

 

 

 

Field Guide IDs:
NG-286; G-216; PE-196; PW-pl 42; AE-pl 470; AW-pl 547; AM(II)-252


Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs &
Mating System
Dev. &
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
..
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 14 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
5 feet - 75 feet
F?
3
(3-4)
MONOG
F: 21-23 DAYS
MF


BREEDING:

Open montane and boreal coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests, esp with abundant dead trees. ? broods.

DISPLAYS:

Males pursue females in courtship chase.

NEST:

Often high in conifer (deciduous in some areas) tree, on horizontal branch, far from trunk; compact, firmly attached with cobwebs; of twigs, rootlets, lichen, pine needles, most lined with lichen, grass, rootlets.

EGGS:

White, buff, pale salmon, lightly but clearly marked (often wreathed) with browns, olive. 0.8 (22 mm).

DIET:

Exclusively insects that can be captured in air; many honeybees.

CONSERVATION:

Winters in montane S.A. from Colombia and Venezuela s to s e Peru. Rare cowbird host.

NOTES:

Vigorous defender of nest area against potential predators including humans. Usu seen on exposed perch at top of or high in tree.

STANFORD. NOTES:

ESSAYS:

Territoriality; Bathing and Dusting; Incubation: Heating Eggs.

REFERENCES:

Godfrey, 1986.

Except for Stanford Notes, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).