Olive-sided Flycatcher
Contopus cooperi
Family: Tyrannidae
The Olive-sided Flycatcher is best known for its “quick-three-beers” song and its habit of repeatedly darting from a prominent high snag or tall tree to capture flying insects. It breeds at openings or edges of boreal or Western coniferous forests, including in burned and harvested forests where tall snags are retained. While disturbed and harvested landscapes have increased throughout its breeding range, the Olive-sided Flycatcher has continued to decline, suggesting that conditions on the wintering grounds may be driving its negative population trend. Additional research is needed to thoroughly understand the factors affecting this Yellow Watch List species.
This long-distance Nearctic-Neotropical migrant winters primarily at mid-elevations in the Andes and other mountainous areas of South America, but it also occurs in low densities across the Amazonian lowlands, in southeastern Brazil, and in the highlands of Central America and southern Mexico. In winter, Olive-sided Flycatchers can typically be found on the top-most branches of emergent canopy trees, where they utter their characteristic “pip-pip-pip” calls between long flights in pursuit of large aerial insects.
Primary Habitats:
Breeding: Boreal ForestWintering: Central and South American Highlands
Major Threats:
Breeding: Changing Forest Conditions, Climate Change
Wintering: Tropical Deforestation, Changing Forest Conditions, Climate Change
Conservation Status:
Population Loss Since 1970: 78%
Urgency/Half Life: 24 years
Global Conservation Status: IUCN 2016-3 Red List – Near Threatened
U.S. Conservation Status: N/A
Canadian Conservation Status: Threatened (COSEWIC 2007); Schedule 1, Threatened (SARA)
Birds of Conservation Concern: USFWS – Bird of Conservation Concern
Conservation Responsibilities:
| Region | Area Importance | Long-term Population Change | Half Life |
| Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture | 31% | -67% | 34 years |
| Western Boreal Joint Venture | 29% | -67% | 34 years |
| Intermountain West Joint Venture | 14% | -67% | 26 years |
| Canadian Intermountain Joint Venture | 10% | -76% | 26 years |
| Canadian Eastern Boreal Region | 7% | -59% | 26 years |
Conservation Opportunities:
Olive-sided Flycatcher Griffin Group (work space for conservationists and biologists)
PIF V Western Forests Conservation Business Plan
- Improved monitoring required in boreal Canada
- Better quantification of limiting factors and population drivers on breeding (boreal Canada) and nonbreeding (Andes) grounds
- Evaluate conservation efforts
- Reduce pesticide use, and improve knowledge of insect prey and bird population declines
- Better quantification of limiting factors and population drivers on breeding and nonbreeding grounds
- Revise fire-prevention policies to support natural forest conditions
Species Conservation Plans:
- Recovery Strategy (SARA)
- SARA Species Profile
- COSEWIC Status Assessment (in progress: contact a.westwood[at]dal.ca)
Key Species References:
Peer Reviewed Papers:
- de Lima Pereira 2016. Olive-sided Flycatcher, Contopus cooperi, in the Cerrado biome, and a review of records in Brazil
- Ralston, et al. 2015. Analysis of combined data sets yields trend estimates for vulnerable spruce-fir birds in northern United States
- Smith et al. 2015. Change points in the population trends of aerial-insectivorous birds in North America: Synchronized in time across species and regions
- Robertson 2012. Investigating targets of avian habitat management to eliminate an ecological trap
- Azeria et al. 2011. Differential response of bird functional traits to post-fire salvage logging in a boreal forest ecosystem
- Betts et al. 2010. Thresholds in forest bird occurrence as a function of the amount of early-seral broadleaf forest at landscape scales
- Robertson and Hutto 2007. Is selectively harvested forest an ecological trap for olive-sided flycatchers?
- Chambers et al. 1999. Breeding bird responses to three silvicultural treatments in the Oregon coast range
Management Guide:
