Empidonax virescens
L 5 3/4" (15 cm)

Song or calls:
Song is an emphatic “peet-sa,” with the second syllable is accented.

more images

photo by Phil Swanson

Description: Sexes similar.
Olive above with variable underparts, most birds show a pale grayish throat, pale olive wash across upper breast, white lower breast, and yellow belly and undertail coverts. Yellow eye ring; two buffy or whitish wing bars; and very long primaries. Lower mandible is mostly yellow, and the bill is proportionately long and broad-based. Juvenile is brownish-olive above; wing bars are buffy; and underparts are whitish with olive wash on breast.

Habitat: Found in shady and humid riverbottom forests, forested swamps, and wooded plains.

Where in Nebraska: Rare regular spring migrant in the southeast, rare to casual elsewhere. Rare regular breeder in the southeast. Hypothetical in the fall.

Field Notes: Range appears to be expanding in the northeastern United States.

Fun Facts: The male Acadian Flycatcher defends his territory with a "peet-sah" song.