Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi)

Summary

• Natural history: The Olive-sided Flycatcher announces itself with a piercing three-note whistle delivered from a dead treetop perch, but actually confirming a nest is unusually difficult, since pairs defend territories of up to 110 acres and build well-hidden nests in boggy conifer stands, beaver meadows, or forest openings left by fire, windthrow, or logging. Vermont’s population fell sharply between the two atlases, a decline blamed partly on the loss of wintering habitat in the northern Andes Mountains of South America and partly on the fact that Contopus flycatchers as a group have the lowest reproductive rate of any songbird genus in North America.
• Status in VT: Decreased by 47% (86 to 46 blocks). Decreases everywhere but Vermont Valley.
• Data from other research: No additional data for VT.
• Conservation status: State rank S4B; SSC; SGCN-M
• Other atlases: NY: -34%; PA: -33% ON: sig. declines in Lake Simcoe-Rideau (-44%) and Southern Shield (-35%).
• VT’s role in North American range: VT is in the southeastern corner of the eastern breeding range.
• Causes of change since first Atlas: Loss of habitat due to changes in forest management practices and fire suppression (?); decreased abundance of preferred prey such asHymenoptera species (?); increase in nest predation in managed forest stands compared to naturally burned stands (?). Possible reduced overwinter survivorship due to loss of habitat on wintering grounds (?).
• Management/Monitoring recommendations: Retain snags in appropriate habitat; prevent conversion of coniferous forest to other land uses; maintain or mimic natural forest disturbance patterns that create suitable forest openings.

Population Trends

First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)

Species Account

Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)

Species Account

Change in Distribution

Links

Vermont eBird

Encyclopedia of Life

All About Birds