Bird Guide

American Grey Flycatcher vs Buff-breasted Flycatcher

American Grey Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii)

American Grey Flycatcher

Empidonax wrightii

Tiny12 gShrubland

American gray flycatchers are small birds, but larger than most Empidonax flycatchers. A typical adult measures 15 cm (5.9 in) in length, 22 cm (8.7 in) in wingspan, and 12.5 g (0.44 oz) in mass. Adults have pale gray upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with a faint olive tinge after molting in fall. Underparts are whitish, but washed slightly with yellow in fresh plumage. They have white wing bars and an inconspicuous white eye ring. There is a pale supraloral band stretching above the base of the bill.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Tyrannus_couchiiAQBIP11CA.jpg: United States Department of the Interior derivative work: MPF (talk) · Public domain
Buff-breasted Flycatcher (Empidonax fulvifrons)

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

Empidonax fulvifrons

Tiny8 gForest

The buff-breasted flycatcher is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long and weighs 6.9 to 9.3 g (0.24 to 0.33 oz). It is the smallest member of genus Empidonax in the US and among the smallest overall. The sexes are alike. Subspecies E. f. pygmaeus is the best known. Adults have dull buffy white lores and a faint dull buffy white eye-ring on an otherwise buffy greenish brown face. Their crown, nape, and upperparts are a darker buffy greenish brown than the face. Their tail is grayish brown with paler grayish white outer webs on the feathers. Voice: The buff-breasted flycatcher's song in Guatemala and Honduras is "a rapid ti'beuu! or pi'dew!" and its call there "a soft, liquid wit". Further north its song is described as chee-lick or chee-lick chou" and its call as "a single pit note".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: ADJ82 · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: American Grey Flycatcher and Buff-breasted Flycatcher.