Identifying Flycatchers: How to Get Started

May 23, 2025

a small gray-olive bird perches on a cut branch — Flycatchers can look nondescript, but clues can help you put them into the correct group. This Olive-sided Flycatcher has a cool grayish cast, faint wingbars, no eyering, and long primary feathers when compared against the tail—all indications that it belongs to the pewee group. *Photo by Jeremiah Trimble / Macaulay Library.*

The flycatchers of North America have a reputation for being hard to identify—but don’t let that put you off. As with any large group of similar-looking birds, you can get a long way by learning how to recognize the main subgroups. After you’ve narrowed your search down, it’ll be much simpler to get down to species.

New World flycatchers are in the family Tyrannidae (the “tyrant flycatchers”). Though there are 440 species in all, only about 35 occur regularly in the U.S. and Canada. Almost all are smallish birds with fairly large heads, straight bills, and an alert, upright posture. They tend to sit still on a perch before flying out to nab an insect in the air. They have short, often harsh songs that can be very helpful—even essential—in separating species.

To get started, judge the overall size and coloration: Is it large, assertive, and cleanly marked like a kingbird? Brownish yellow with warm highlights like a Myiarchus? Or small and gray-green like a phoebe, pewee, or Empidonax?

Tap or click the bird names to visit their All About Birds species account.

Large and Assertive: Kingbirds

Illustration of a black-headed bird, thickish, black bill, white throat and underside. steel-colored back, dark gray wings with thin, white wingbars and a dark gray tail with white feathers on the side and tip. — Eastern Kingbird

Illustration of a long, thin bodied bird with a light gray head, chest and back, pale lemon abdomen and vent, and card brown wings with faint brown wingbars and outer white tail feathers. — Eastern Kingbird

Kingbirds are big, flashy, conspicuous flycatchers, the largest in the U.S. and Canada. When you see a flycatcher in open country—perched on fenceposts, powerlines, or scattered trees—it’s likely a kingbird. They are all members of the genus Tyrannus (meaning “tyrant”), and true to that name, they tirelessly harass crows, jays, hawks, and other predators that get too close to their nests.

Kingbirds come in two general color schemes: gray above and white below, or gray on the head and breast and yellow below. Their patterning is crisper and more defined than other types of flycatchers.

Yellow and Rusty Tones: Myiarchus

Olive-gray bird with yellow abdomen, gray throat, brown/gray, white and russet colored tail and wing feathers, white wingbars, and a short, shaggy olive-gray crest. — Great Crested Flycatcher

Gray bird with yellowish abdomen, light gray throat, brown/gray, white and russet colored tail and wing feathers, white wingbars, and a short, shaggy gray crest. — Great Crested Flycatcher

The medium-sized, crested flycatchers in the genus Myiarchus have a subtle but distinctive color scheme: gray-and-yellow underparts with warm rufous highlights on the wings and tail. The pattern is reminiscent of yellow kingbirds like Western and Tropical, but the rufous highlights set them apart. Myiarchus flycatchers also behave differently: they tend to forage inconspicuously in vegetation, while kingbirds are usually highly visible on prominent perches in open habitats.

Myiarchus give loud calls with more of a whistled tone than other North American flycatchers. They can be inconspicuous birds, but their calls can lead you to them. Fun fact: Myiarchus flycatchers are the only flycatchers in the U.S. and Canada that nest in tree cavities and birdhouses.

Small and Grayish to Greenish

Three groups of small, inconspicuous, often forest-dwelling flycatchers are responsible for many an ID headache: the phoebes, the pewees, and the Empidonax genus. It’s really helpful to learn the slight differences that differentiate these groups—pay attention to overall color tone, presence or absence of wingbars and eyerings, and the color and size of the bill.

Phoebes

Illustration of a gray/brown bird with a dark cap, white chin and underside, gray and white wings and a long, gray tail. — Eastern Phoebe

Illustration of a gray bird with a russet abdomen and whitish chin, perches — Eastern Phoebe

Phoebes often occur around buildings and all share a habit of wagging their tails. Adults of all 3 species lack eyerings and strong wingbars, giving them a sharp, put-together look. This also helps distinguish them from both pewees and Empidonax. If you live in eastern North America and see a gray-brown bird around a building wagging its tail, it is almost certainly an Eastern Phoebe.

Pewees

Illustration of a dark yellow/olive-green bird with thin white wingbars. — Eastern Wood-Pewee

Pewees are nondescript, and this can make them hard to recognize at first. But look closely: they have an overall grayish cast with little green or yellow. Their faint wingbars help distinguish them from phoebes, and yet they lack the bright eyering and wingbars of the Empidonax group.

Watch also for their classic behavioral style: sitting on an exposed perch, flying out for an insect, then returning to the same perch. Other subtle cues include a larger, yellower bill than phoebes and longer wings (as judged by how far the wingtips extend along the tail). Their loud, distinctive songs are also very helpful.

Empidonax

small yellow-green bird with eyering and wingbars — Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

small olive-green bird with eyering and wingbars — Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

For most of our region, species in the genus Empidonax are the smallest flycatchers you’ll find. With practice, it’s relatively easy to recognize this group: most of the 10 species have bold eyerings and two prominent wingbars. Many of the species are green, olive-green, or yellow-green, unlike pewees or phoebes. Most Empidonax are forest birds, but a few species such as Gray Flycatcher occur in open areas.

Identifying Empidonax to species can be very difficult unless you hear their songs, which are short, sharp chips. Range, habitat, and time of year are also helpful in narrowing down a species.

Other Distinctive or Unusual Flycatchers

Illustration of a red bird with a small, red, shaggy crest, black dorsal side, including tail and feathers, a black mask and small, black, bill. — Vermilion Flycatcher (male)

Illustration of a gray/brown bird with a streaky, patterned chest and gray wings and tail. — Vermilion Flycatcher (male)

If you travel elsewhere in the Americas, you’ll find many additional groups of flycatchers not described in this article. For instance, the tiny, foliage-gleaning tyrannulets; the stripe-headed, aggressive kiskadees; and the scruffy, streaky Myiodynastes genus are all represented by a single species in parts of the southern United States near the border with Mexico. So if you see a flycatcher that doesn’t fit neatly into the groups described above, check this list.

Flycatcher illustrations by Norman Arlott, Hilary Burn, Ian Lewington, Ian Willis via Birds of the World.