Bird of the Week – Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Another of the difficult Empidonax genus, this little flycatcher is believed to be a relative newcomer to Alaska. Most range maps show it not occuring in Alaska; this photo was taken near Chatanika, along the Steese Highway, northeast of Fairbanks.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Steese Highway
It’s one of the more distinctive members of the Empidonax species in its appearance and habits. The yellowish underparts and eye-ring make one of the more easily identified Emps. But it can be difficult to find in the field; its plumage blends well with both the mossy muskeg forests of its summer home or the Middle American rain forests of its winter home.
In Interior Alaska, it appears to enjoy the alder thickets growing on old tailings from dredging operations, especially where streams wind through the old mine tailings. An earlier known colony was on the scrubby vegetation on a rocky hillside near the south bank of the Yukon River. The species doesn’t hang around its Alaska breeding grounds long; its summer stay is one of the shortest of the birds that migrate to Alaska for nesting, often less than 70 days.
Camera geek stuff: f5.6, 1/4000, ISO2500.
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I admire your patience to obtain these photos!