Species Summary

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary

Empidonax wrightii
Gray Flycatcher

Scientific Name:

Empidonax wrightii Baird, 1858

English Name:

Gray Flycatcher

Classification / Taxonomy

Scientific Name - Concept Reference:

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.

Classification Level:

Species

Species Group:

Vertebrate Animal

Species Code:

B-GRFL

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
Animalia	Craniata	Aves	Passeriformes	Tyrannidae

Conservation Status / Legal Designation

Global Status:

G5 (Apr 2016)

Provincial Status:

S2S3B (Mar 2022)

BC List:

Blue

Provincial FRPA list:

Provincial Wildlife Act:

COSEWIC Status:

Not at Risk (May 1992)

SARA Schedule:

General Status Canada:

3 - Sensitive (2005)

Migratory Bird Convention Act:

Ecology & Life History

General Description:

Global Reproduction Comments:

Clutch size is three to four. Incubation by female lasts 14 days. Nestlings are altricial and downy, tended by both parents, leave nest in 16 days, fed by parents for 14 more days.

Global Ecology Comments:

A breeding population of approximately 25 pairs per 100 hectares has been reported in Oregon (Bureau of Land Management, no date).

Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)

    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant:

N /
N /
Y /
na /

Global Migration Comments:

Arrives in northern part of nesting range in U.S. in April- May (Terres 1980).

Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)

Forest / Conifer Forest - Dry / Obligate

Global Habitat Comments:

BREEDING: Arid woodland and brushy areas (AOU 1998). Most commonly associated with pinyon-juniper woodland. In Wyoming, strongly associated with the presence of pinyon pine and higher than expected juniper overstory cover (Pavlacky and Anderson 2001). In western Great Basin, nests in tall big sagebrush shrublands (Ryser 1985). Less frequently found in open ponderosa pine or pine-oak woodland. In the last three decades has expanded its range northward into Washington and British Columbia, where it uses open stands of small to medium (up to 15 m high) ponderosa pines exclusively; these stands usually have a scattered shrub or young pine understory (Cannings 1992). Usually builds nest in fork or branch of a shrub or juniper (Ehrlich et al. 1988). NON-BREEDING: In migration and winter also in arid scrub, riparian woodland, and mesquite (AOU 1998). See also Sterling (1999).

Food Habits:

Invertivore: Adult, Immature

Global Food Habits Comments:

Apparently eats small insects (beetles, grasshoppers, moths, etc.). Forages by darting out from a perch to catch insects in the air. Also catches insects on the ground.

Global Phenology:

Diurnal: Adult, Immature

Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)

Colonial Breeder:

Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g):

15/ / 13

Elevation (m) (min / max):

Global:
Provincial:

Distribution

Endemic:

Global Range Comment:

BREEDING: extreme southern British Columbia (Cannings 1992) and south-central Idaho south to southern California, southern Nevada, central Arizona, south-central New Mexico, and locally western Texas (Terres 1980, AOU 1983). NON-BREEDING: southern California, central Arizona, south to Baja California and south-central mainland of Mexico (Terres 1980).

Authors / Contributors

Global Information Author:

HAMMERSON, G., MINOR REVISIONS BY S. CANNINGS

Last Updated:

Jan 24, 1995

Provincial Information Author:

Last Updated:

References and Related Literature

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.

Banks, R. C., and M. R. Browning. 1995. Comments on the status of revived old names for some North American birds. Auk 112:633-648.

Bureau of Land Management. Life History Summaries.

Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp.

Cannings, R. J. 1992. Status report on the Gray Flycatcher EMPIDONAX WRIGHTII in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). 11 pp.

Cannings, R.J. 1995. Status of the Gray Flycatcher in British Columbia. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch, Bull. B-76. 19pp.

Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.

Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.

Pavlacky, D. C., Jr., and S. H. Anderson. 2001. Habitat preferences of pinyon-juniper specialists near the limit of their geographic range. Condor 103:322-331.

Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Empidonax wrightii. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 8, 2026).

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary

Empidonax wrightii Gray Flycatcher

Suggested Citation:

Empidonax wrightii
Gray Flycatcher