Wasatch Front · Flycatchers

Flycatchers, and the limits of a name

Kingbirds and phoebes give themselves up; the little Empidonax are the hardest ID knot in North America. This key splits the group by build, then — for the empids — leads with voice, because a silent one often can't be safely named at all.

01

Four buckets, by build

Size and posture sort the group before color does.

Kingbird

Big, big-headed, stout bill. Perches out in the open; grey head, or a yellow belly, or a white-edged tail.

Pewee

Upright, long wings, no eye-ring. Wingtips reach far down the tail; sits and sallies from bare snags.

Phoebe

Pumps its tail, plain wings. Say's has a cinnamon belly; Black is a tuxedo at the water's edge.

Empid

Small, eye-ring + two wingbars. Nervous — flicks wings and tail. The hard core (§03).

Before anything else: for the empids, voice is the only consistently reliable mark. The structural tells below get you to probable; a call gets you to certain. If it's silent, be ready to leave it unnamed.
02

Walk it down

Tap through to a name — or to an honest dead-end.

No-JS fallback — the tap-through version loads when scripts run.

1
Big, bold, open perch → Kingbird. Grey head + yellow belly = Western; black & white with a white tail-band = Eastern.
2
Upright, long-winged, no eye-ring → Pewee. Slim, grey, "peeer" = Western Wood-Pewee; big-headed, vested, snag-top, "quick-three-beers" = Olive-sided.
3
Pumps its tail, plain wings → Phoebe. Cinnamon belly = Say's; black-and-white tuxedo at water = Black (scarce).
4
Small, eye-ring + wingbars → Empidonax. Heard it? FITZ-bew = Willow · se-lick = Dusky · se-peek = Hammond's · chwip + tail-down = Gray · rising tsee-eet, greenish = Western. Silent = probable only, often "Empidonax sp."
03

Reading a silent empid

Three structural tells. None is proof on its own — stack them, and hold the confidence.

Tail motion

Gray dips its tail down, phoebe-style — the only empid here that does. Every other one flicks it up. The clearest single cut.

Eye-ring

Teardrop (bulges behind the eye) = Hammond's, Least. Almond, pointed at the rear, on a yellow face = Western. Thin even ring = Dusky. Faint/broken = Gray; near-absent = Willow.

Primary projection

Hammond's: long wingtips, short tail — looks front-heavy. Dusky: short wingtips, longer tail — looks lanky-tailed. Same size birds, opposite balance.

The honest cap. These stack to a strong probable, not a certainty. On a silent bird — especially a worn or juvenile one in fall — the correct call is often "Empidonax sp." and no shame in it.
04

The players

Common → scarce. Amber box = the clinching mark. Tap a name for eBird (photos, calls).

Western Kingbird

Tyrannus verticalis

kingbird
ClincherLemon-yellow belly under a pale grey head, and a black tail with clean white outer edges.
Grey headYellow bellyWhite tail sides

Perches boldly on wires and fence posts across the open valley; loud, sputtering chatter. The default kingbird.

Fairly common · 18.8% at peak (May)

Western Flycatcher

Empidonax difficilis

empid
ClincherYellow-green wash overall, an almond eye-ring pointed toward the rear, and a broad, all-orange lower bill.
Greenish-yellowAlmond ringOrange bill

Shady, moist canyon riparian and conifer; the most colorful empid here. Thin, rising "tsee-eet." (Formerly Cordilleran — see footer.)

Fairly common · 11.9% at peak (Jul)

Western Wood-Pewee

Contopus sordidulus

pewee
ClincherNo eye-ring, long wings reaching far down the tail, and a burry, down-slurred "peeer" — the empid impostor.
No eye-ringLong wingsDusky vest

Sits bolt upright on exposed dead branches, sallies and returns; greyer and longer-winged than any empid, and doesn't flick its tail.

Fairly common · 9.2% at peak (Sep)

Dusky Flycatcher

Empidonax oberholseri

empid
ClincherShort primary projection gives a long-tailed, lanky look; small bill, thin even eye-ring; flicks the tail upward.
Lanky-tailedThin even ringFoothill brush

The commonest breeding empid in the canyons — dry open brush and aspen edge. Whistled two-part "se-lick."

Uncommon · 6.6% at peak (May)

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Contopus cooperi

pewee
ClincherBig-headed and short-tailed, with a dark "vest" split by a white stripe down the breast — and a ringing "quick-THREE-beers!"
VestedBig headSnag-top

Sits at the very tip of the tallest dead snag and scans wide. Unmistakable once the vest and the call click.

Uncommon · 5.4% at peak (Jul)

Say's Phoebe

Sayornis saya

phoebe
ClincherSoft cinnamon-orange belly under a grey-brown breast; pumps its tail steadily from open perches.
Cinnamon bellyTail-pumpOpen country

Earliest flycatcher back (March); dry open ground, buildings, badlands. The only phoebe you'll see with any regularity.

Uncommon · 4.1% at peak (Apr)

Hammond's Flycatcher

Empidonax hammondii

empid
ClincherFront-heavy: long wingtips over a short tail, tiny mostly-dark bill, bold teardrop eye-ring — and it flicks wings and tail constantly.
Long wingsTiny billTeardrop ring

Higher up, in tall conifer; nervier and more compact than Dusky. Burry, hoarse "se-peek."

Uncommon · 3.4% at peak (Sep)

Gray Flycatcher

Empidonax wrightii

empid
ClincherDips its tail DOWNWARD, phoebe-style — the only empid here that does; pale grey, with a long bill and a crisp dark tip.
Dips tail DOWNLong billSage/juniper

Palest, lowest-elevation empid — sagebrush and pinyon-juniper on the dry benches. Dry "chwip."

Scarce · 2.6% at peak (Sep)

Willow Flycatcher

Empidonax traillii

empid
ClincherFaint-to-absent eye-ring on a brownish-olive bird — plus the sneezy, buzzy "FITZ-bew."
No eye-ringBrownishWet willows

Riparian willow thickets along streams and ponds. A silent Willow/Alder is a "Traill's" — not safely split without the call.

Scarce · 2.3% at peak (May)

Eastern Kingbird

Tyrannus tyrannus

kingbird
ClincherBlackish above, clean white below, with a broad white band across the tail tip — like it dipped its tail in paint.
Black & whiteWhite tail bandPassage

Scarcer passage migrant, mostly late summer; perches in the open like Western but boldly pied — no confusion once seen.

Scarce · 1.6% at peak (Aug)
05

The ones that fool you

Where the real work is — and why voice keeps winning.

Dusky vs Hammond's

The canyon confusion. Dusky: longer-tailed/lanky (short primary projection), small bill with a pale base, thin even ring, drier open brush & aspen, gentle upward tail-flick. Hammond's: front-heavy (long wings, short tail), tiny dark bill, bold teardrop ring, tall conifer higher up, constant nervous flicking. Primary projection + bill + elevation + voice — no single mark alone.

Gray vs Dusky

They overlap in sage-juniper edge. Gray is paler, longer-billed with a sharply cut dark tip, faint ring — and dips its tail down. Dusky is greyer-olive, shorter-billed, thin complete ring, and flicks the tail up. The tail-direction is the fast tell.

Western Wood-Pewee vs any empid

The beginner trap. The pewee has no eye-ring, long wings past the tail-base, sits upright on an exposed perch, and doesn't flick its tail. Empids show a ring, work lower cover, and twitch constantly. If there's no ring and no twitch, think pewee.

Willow vs Alder — "Traill's"

Visually a coin-flip. Willow says "FITZ-bew"; Alder says "fee-BEE-o" and is a genuine rarity here. A silent Traill's is not identifiable to species — log it as "Willow/Alder" and move on.

06

Don't import these

The honesty ceiling, the review birds, and the county-firsts.

The silent-empid ceiling

The single most important line on this page.

  • "Empidonax sp." is a real, correct answer. A silent empid — worn, juvenile, glimpsed, or just uncooperative — frequently cannot be taken to species. Don't let the key's tidy branches talk you into a name the bird didn't give you. A calling bird, or a photo showing bill and primary projection, is what earns the tick.

Recorded, but review species — a Merlin ID isn't proof

On the county list, but UBRC requests documentation. Photograph and report to records@utahbirds.org.

  • Least Flycatcher review — very bold, complete white ring on a small big-headed empid; snappy dry "che-BEK." Rare here (~0.3% peak); document it.
  • Eastern Phoebe review — plain, no wingbars, dark head, tail-wagging; a mostly late-fall/winter stray (~0.8% peak). Document it.

eBird shows them; the 2020 UBRC list says review & not recorded

The number is almost certainly a post-2020 stray or a single chased bird — not repeatable occurrence.

  • Great Crested Flycatcher review · not on 2020 list — a bright-yellow-bellied, rufous-tailed Myiarchus; eBird has a sliver (~0.2%). A county-review bird.
  • Thick-billed Kingbird review · not on 2020 list — its ~2.3% "peak" is one staked-out individual a crowd chased in a single week, not a findable species. Don't read the tier.

Scarce regulars — on the list, just not carded

Recorded and not review, so they count — simply too local or too low-frequency for a full card.

  • Black Phoebe — black hood and upperparts, clean white belly, always at the water's edge; slowly increasing but still local (~0.2% peak). A real, findable tick at the right pond.
  • Ash-throated Flycatcher — pale Myiarchus, rufous in the tail and wings, lemon-tinged belly, bushy head; dry juniper and scrub foothills in summer (~0.2% peak).
  • Vermilion Flycatcher — the male is unmistakable. Very rare here (~0.04% peak) and not review-flagged, so it's a legitimate, if lucky, county bird if one turns up.

Not on the county list (2020) — a county first if real

  • Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher review · not recorded, plus Brown-crested Flycatcher and Cassin's Kingbird — none on the 2020 list; any would be a records-committee bird. Photograph everything.