The Least Flycatcher is the smallest and most common of the confusing "Empidonax" flycatchers in Michigan — a group of small, drab, gray-olive birds with white eye-rings and wing bars that are famously difficult to tell apart by sight. Fortunately the Least announces itself: it repeats a dry, emphatic "che-BEK! che-BEK!" over and over, snapping the phrase out dozens of times a minute, which makes it far easier to name than to distinguish visually. It flicks its wings and tail nervously as it perches.
A bird of open deciduous and mixed woods, edges, and orchards, the Least Flycatcher sallies from a perch to catch flying insects and returns, in the classic flycatcher manner. It breeds throughout much of Michigan, arriving in May, and it is often surprisingly aggressive for its size, defending small territories energetically and even influencing where other birds settle. Come fall it slips south to Mexico and Central America, its little "che-BEK" falling silent until the following spring.
Sallies from a perch to catch flying insects — small flies, wasps, beetles, and winged ants — and gleans insects and spiders from foliage. It hunts actively from the mid-story of open woodland, returning to favored perches between short flights.
By voice. The Least Flycatcher repeats a sharp, dry "che-BEK" emphatically and often, which is the surest way to tell it from nearly identical relatives. By sight the small size, bold white eye-ring, and wing bars help, but the song is definitive.
"Empid" is birders' shorthand for the genus Empidonax, a group of small, drab, look-alike flycatchers with eye-rings and wing bars. They are notoriously hard to separate by appearance, so birders rely heavily on their distinctive voices.
In open deciduous and mixed woodlands, forest edges, orchards, and second growth, where it hunts flying insects from mid-story perches. It breeds across much of Michigan in the warmer months.
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