Yellowish flycatcher
The yellowish flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found from Mexico to Panama.
Taxonomy and systematics
The yellowish flycatcher has three subspecies, the nominate E. f. flavescens, E. f. imperturbatus, and E. f. salvini.From the late 1800s to the 1980s the yellowish flycatcher was treated as conspecific with what was then the western flycatcher. Subspecies E. f. salvini was originally described as a full species and some authors have suggested that it again be treated that way.
Description
The yellowish flycatcher is long and weighs. The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a pale yellow almond-shaped eye-ring on an otherwise yellowish green face. Their crown, nape, and upperparts are olive-green. Their tail is dusky to blackish with yellowish green edges on the feathers. Their remiges are mostly dusky to blackish and glossy. Their primaries have pale olive edges and the secondaries and tertials have pale yellow edges to the outer webs. The wing coverts are grayish brown with wide yellow tips that show as two wing bars. Their chin and throat are yellowish white, their breast deep yellow, and the rest of their underparts yellowish with hidden white to yellowish white tufts on the flanks. The colors, especially on feather tips, fade with wear. Subspecies E. f. imperturbatus has duller and less yellowish green upperparts than the nominate, with paler colored edges to the flight and tail feathers, a grayer throat, breast, and flanks, and a more yellowish belly. E. f. salvini is larger than the nominate and has greener upperparts, a greenish olive breast, and a duller yellow belly. All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a black maxilla, a pale pink to orange-yellow mandible, and light brown, dusky brown, or blackish legs and feet.The yellowish flycatcher is similar to several other members of genus Empidonax. It is most similar to the pine flycatcher, with which it shares some habitat within their common range, but is brighter and greener and readily separated by voice. It is also similar to the migratory yellow-bellied flycatcher, which is present in its range in winter, but the yellowish flycatcher ironically has a yellower belly. They too have different voices.
Distribution and habitat
The yellowish flycatcher has a disjunct distribution. Subspecies E. f. imperturbatus has the most limited range. It is found in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas of coastal Veracruz in southeastern Mexico. Subspecies E. f. salvini is found from southern Mexico's Chiapas state south intermittently through Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into northern Nicaragua. The nominate subspecies is found through central Costa Rica into western Panama as far as Veraguas Province.The yellowish flycatcher inhabits highlands in the subtropical and temperate zones. It primarily occurs in humid evergreen broadleaf forest heavy with moss, lichen, and bromeliads, for example cloudforest. It also occurs in pine and pine-oak forest. It favors the forest understory and is partial to areas near running water. It mostly occurs in the forest interior but also on its edges and in human-modified landscapes such as coffee and cacao plantations, pastures with scattered trees, and gardens. In the Sierra de los Tuxtlas it occurs mostly between but has been seen as low as. The other Mexican population, in Chiapas, ranges between. In Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras it ranges between but mostly occurs above. In Nicaragua it occurs between, in Costa Rica between, and in Panama between.