Photo Credit: B.D. Cotterille, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS: Brownish olive above and yellowish below, this 5-inch long flycatcher has whitish eye rings and wing bars. It’s the only flycatcher found in the state that has a bright yellow throat.
BIOLOGY-NATURAL HISTORY: Commonly found breeding in the spruce-fir forests of Canada, this flycatcher reaches the southern extreme of its breeding range in northern Pennsylvania. The species nests on the ground, preferably in beds of sphagnum moss where three to five white eggs, sparsely flecked with brown, hatch by late spring. This species feeds mainly on insects and spiders. It winters n Central and South America.
PREFERRED HABITAT: The yellow-bellied flycatcher is found in coniferous forests, alder thickets and high mountain bogs. In Pennsylvania, nests have been found in mossy, poorly drained areas (bogs and old beaver ponds) surrounded by extensive northern hardwood forests. Most nest sites are associated with standing water, sphagnum moss, conifers (spruce or hemlock), and the presence of high bush blueberries, alder, rhododendron or other shrubs.
REASONS FOR BEING ENDANGERED:
Extensive development and peat mining within the Poconos has eliminated much of the
habitat preferred by this species. Also, the impoundment of remote bogs in forested
habitats has converted much of the habitat used by this species into small ponds.
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: One of the state’s rarest nesting species, this flycatcher can survive only if shrubby wetlands and conifer stands in extensive upland forests are preserved.
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