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Hammond's Flycatcher - Empidonax hammondii
Native Species Global Rank :
G5
State Rank :
S4B
(see State Rank Reason below)
Agency Status USFWS :
MBTA
USFS :
BLM :
FWP SWAP :
SGCN
PIF :
2
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Copyright by Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, all rights reserved.
State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
Species is associated with mature forest across western and central Montana. Populations appear to be undergoing slight declines. Threats include loss of mature forest due to fire and timber harvest.
General Description
Similar to the Dusky and Gray Flycatchers whose habitats occasionally overlap theirs. The Hammond's Flycatcher is a small suboscine, 12.5 to 14.5 cm, 7.7 to 12.1 g. Sexually monomorphic. During breeding season, males have cloacal protuberance, females have brood patch. Upper parts grayish olive; head more grayish with less olive; sides of breast and upper breast dark gray. Abdomen and undertail coverts yellowish to whitish depending on extent of prenuptial molt; yellow or white of abdomen bordered by darkish flanks gives some birds a vested appearance. Throat pale gray; outer web of outer tail feathers grayish white; whitish eye-ring, often thicker behind eye. Wing-bars narrow and whitish in adults and broader and buffy in hatching year birds (Sedgwick 1994).
VOCALIZATIONS: Call notes include a sharp peek or pip given by both sexes, and a soft, descending "
k-lear " or "
k-lear whee-zee " most commonly given by males. Song is a burry "
se-put tsurrt chu-lup ", lower and huskier than Dusky Flycatcher (
Empidonax oberholseri ), which is slightly more musical. The song sequence may consist of all three elements or the elements given singly or in couplets, such as "
tseep tsurp " (Sedgwick 1994, NGS 1999). Males sing most frequently in morning and before dusk, but will sing throughout the day, and usually use perches in mid- to upper-canopy (Sedgwick 1994).
For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see
Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana. Diagnostic Characteristics
See Whitney and Kaufmann (1985) for details on identification.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions Western Hemisphere Range
eBird Occurrence Map
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and
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 11664
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
SUMMER (Feb 16 - Dec 14)
Direct Evidence of Breeding
Indirect Evidence of Breeding
No Evidence of Breeding
WINTER (Dec 15 - Feb 15)
Regularly Observed
Not Regularly Observed
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Inhabits cool forest and woodland, breeding primarily in dense fir, mature coniferous or mixed forests to near timberline (Sedgwick 1994).
Ecological Systems Associated with this Species
Details on Creation and Suggested Uses and Limitations
How Associations Were Made
We associated the use and habitat quality (common or occasional) of each of the 82 ecological systems mapped in Montana for
vertebrate animal species that regularly breed, overwinter, or migrate through the state by:
Using personal observations and reviewing literature that summarize the breeding, overwintering, or migratory habitat requirements of each species (Dobkin 1992, Hart et al. 1998, Hutto and Young 1999, Maxell 2000, Foresman 2012, Adams 2003, and Werner et al. 2004);
Evaluating structural characteristics and distribution of each ecological system relative to the species' range and habitat requirements;
Examining the observation records for each species in the state-wide point observation database associated with each ecological system;
Calculating the percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system to get a measure of "observations versus availability of habitat".
Species that breed in Montana were only evaluated for breeding habitat use, species that only overwinter in Montana were only evaluated for overwintering habitat use, and species that only migrate through Montana were only evaluated for migratory habitat use.
In general, species were listed as associated with an ecological system if structural characteristics of used habitat documented in the literature were present in the ecological system or large numbers of point observations were associated with the ecological system.
However, species were not listed as associated with an ecological system if there was no support in the literature for use of structural characteristics in an ecological system,
even if point observations were associated with that system.
Common versus occasional association with an ecological system was assigned based on the degree to which the structural characteristics of an ecological system matched the preferred structural habitat characteristics for each species as represented in scientific literature.
The percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system was also used to guide assignment of common versus occasional association.
If you have any questions or comments on species associations with ecological systems, please contact the Montana Natural Heritage Program's Senior Zoologist.
Suggested Uses and Limitations
Species associations with ecological systems should be used to generate potential lists of species that may occupy broader landscapes for the purposes of landscape-level planning.
These potential lists of species should not be used in place of documented occurrences of species (this information can be requested at:
mtnhp.mt.gov/requests ) or systematic surveys for species and evaluations of habitat at a local site level by trained biologists.
Users of this information should be aware that the land cover data used to generate species associations is based on imagery from the late 1990s and early 2000s and was only intended to be used at broader landscape scales.
Land cover mapping accuracy is particularly problematic when the systems occur as small patches or where the land cover types have been altered over the past decade.
Thus, particular caution should be used when using the associations in assessments of smaller areas (e.g., evaluations of public land survey sections).
Finally, although a species may be associated with a particular ecological system within its known geographic range, portions of that ecological system may occur outside of the species' known geographic range.
Literature Cited
Adams, R.A. 2003. Bats of the Rocky Mountain West; natural history, ecology, and conservation. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. 289 p.
Dobkin, D. S. 1992. Neotropical migrant land birds in the Northern Rockies and Great Plains. USDA Forest Service, Northern Region. Publication No. R1-93-34. Missoula, MT.
Foresman, K.R. 2012. Mammals of Montana. Second edition. Mountain Press Publishing, Missoula, Montana. 429 pp.
Hart, M.M., W.A. Williams, P.C. Thornton, K.P. McLaughlin, C.M. Tobalske, B.A. Maxell, D.P. Hendricks, C.R. Peterson, and R.L. Redmond. 1998. Montana atlas of terrestrial vertebrates. Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. 1302 p.
Hutto, R.L. and J.S. Young. 1999. Habitat relationships of landbirds in the Northern Region, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station RMRS-GTR-32. 72 p.
Maxell, B.A. 2000. Management of Montana's amphibians: a review of factors that may present a risk to population viability and accounts on the identification, distribution, taxonomy, habitat use, natural history, and the status and conservation of individual species. Report to U.S. Forest Service Region 1. Missoula, MT: Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana. 161 p.
Werner, J.K., B.A. Maxell, P. Hendricks, and D. Flath. 2004. Amphibians and reptiles of Montana. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. 262 p.
Commonly Associated with these Ecological SystemsForest and Woodland Systems
Recently Disturbed or Modified
Shrubland, Steppe and Savanna Systems
Wetland and Riparian Systems
Occasionally Associated with these Ecological SystemsForest and Woodland Systems
Grassland Systems
Recently Disturbed or Modified
Wetland and Riparian Systems
Food Habits
Diet consists of insects. The Hammond's Flycatcher is primarily an aerial forager, capturing most of its insect diet on the wing. On occasion it may forage from leaf surfaces or from the ground (Sedgwick 1994).
Ecology
Territory sizes of 1.6 to 3.2 acres in Douglas-fir or lodgepole forests in western Montana have been reported. In western Montana, 80% and 52% of singing and non-singing perches were in the upper one-third of mature conifers.
Reproductive Characteristics
In western Montana, nests were saddled on limbs of mature conifers, 10.5 to 40 feet high. They breed in June and July. Near the Fortine area, young were being fed on July 19.
Stewardship Responsibility
References
Literature Cited AboveLegend: Empidonax hammondii ). Species Account Number 109. The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved 3/25/2008 from The Birds of North America Online database
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