Sisters Country birds

While perched on the tip of a branch the Ash-throated Flycatcher [Myiarchus cinerascens] will tweak its head from side to side in a quizzical manner as it waits for its next insect meal. They prefer drier environs and do not drink water because all is needed are the fluids from their insect diet. Small lizards, fruits, and berries are occasionally consumed.

Photo by Douglas Beall

Ash-throated Flycatcher.

Three to seven brown- streaked white eggs are laid after a nest of grasses, twigs, and rootlets are woven together and then lined with animal hairs - most often rabbit. A quick 15 days and the hatchlings are ready to eat. A diet of beetles, larva, flies, and wasps enable the chicks to grow quickly and leave the nest in 17 days. The Ash-throated Flycatcher's nest is often a previously-used woodpecker or bluebird cavity, or they may nest in your mailbox.

A group of flycatchers may be referred to as a "zipper," a "zapper," an "outfield," or a "swatting" of flycatchers. To view more flycatcher images, visit https://abirdsingsbecauseithasasong.com/recent-journeys/.