BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Myiarchus cinerascens
Ash-throated Flycatcher
| Scientific Name: | Myiarchus cinerascens (Lawrence, 1851) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Ash-throated 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-ATFL | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Jul 2023) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | SNA (Apr 2024) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Accidental | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 8 - Accidental (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Clutch size 3-7 (usually 4-5). Incubation by female, about 15 days. Altricial young tended by both parents, leave nest in 16-17 days. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | A long-distance migrant in most of the U.S. range. Resident throughout the year in southeastern California, central Arizona, and parts of Mexico. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Desert scrub, pinyon-juniper and oak woodland, chaparral, thorn scrub and riparian woodland; in winter also in open deciduous woodland (AOU 1983). Usually nests in a tree cavity, a hole in a cactus, in an abandoned woodpecker hole or Cactus Wren nest (Harrison 1978). | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Primarily insectivorous; feeds on bees, wasps, ants, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, etc. Also known to eat spiders and some berries. Often forages by flying out from perch and catching insects in the air. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 22/ / 27 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | The breeding range extends from central Mexico north into the United States to southwestern Nebraska and west to southern Washington. The breeding range includes New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, western and eastern Colorado, southern Idaho, southern Wyoming, western Kansas, western Texas, and eastern and coastal Oregon (Cardiff and Ditman 2020, Fink et al. 2022). The breeding range extent is estimated to be over 4,000,000 kmē. The non-breeding range extends from central Arizona and southeastern California south along the Pacific Coast of Central America to Nicaragua, including the Baja California Peninsula, and the Gulf Coast from southern Texas to Veracruz, Mexico (Cardiff and Ditman 2020, Fink et al. 2022). The non-breeding range extent is estimated to be approximately 3,000,000 kmē. |
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| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | HAMMERSON, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Mar 25, 1994 | ||||||||||
| 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. |
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Bureau of Land Management. Life History Summaries. |
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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. |
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Droege, S., and J.R. Sauer. 1990. North American Breeding Bird Survey, annual summary, 1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 90(8). 22 pp. |
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Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Mitchell, W. A. 1988. Songbird nest boxes. Section 5.1.8, US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. Tech. Rep. EL-88-19. Waterways Expt. Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 48 pp. |
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Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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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. 1994. Species Summary: Myiarchus cinerascens. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 3, 2026).