Bird Guide

Pine Flycatcher vs White-throated Flycatcher

Pine Flycatcher (Empidonax affinis)

Pine Flycatcher

Empidonax affinis

Tiny11 gForest

The pine flycatcher is 13 to 14.5 cm (5.1 to 5.7 in) long and weighs about 11.5 g (0.41 oz). The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies E. a. affinis have pale grayish lores and a whitish tear-shaped eye-ring that becomes a point behind the eye on an otherwise olive to grayish olive head. Their upperparts are also olive to grayish olive. Their tail is dusky. Their wings are mostly dusky, with whitish to buff tips on the coverts that show as two wing bars. The wing's secondaries and tertials have pale yellow edges. Voice: In northern and central Mexico the pine flycatcher's song is "2–4 phrases, prrp, p-wiet, chit p-p-p-reer or p-rip, p-rip, p'rr-ree". There it also has a fast "dri-i-irr" alarm trill and a "chu-wik" call. In Chiapas its song is "chri-k whee-u', chik-wheer or cheenk, cheenk, t-weeree". The species also makes "whip, pwip or whiup" calls.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
White-throated Flycatcher (Empidonax albigularis)

White-throated Flycatcher

Empidonax albigularis

Tiny10 gUrban

The white-throated flycatcher is 12 to 14 cm (4.7 to 5.5 in) long. Three individuals weighed 10.4 to 11 g (0.37 to 0.39 oz). The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a brownish olive or olive brown crown and dull buffy-white lores and eye-ring on an otherwise paler brownish olive or olive brown face. Their upperparts are brownish olive or olive brown. Their tail is deep grayish brown with light brownish olive on the feather edges. Voice: The white-throated flycatcher is quite vocal. Its song in northern Central America is "a slightly 2-part rrrreea'ah!" and its call "a harsh, raspy, somewhat nasal rreeaah! or eaaahh!." Both vocalizations are similar elsewhere it the species' range.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: datadan · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Pine Flycatcher and White-throated Flycatcher.