Species of Montana

• Field Checklist of Montana's Birds
• Montana Bird Distribution
• Sage Grouse Management Plan
• Upland Game Bird Program

• Butterflies of North America

Olive-sided Flycatcher - Olive-sided Flycatcher

The Olive-sided Flycatcher is a rather large (18 to 20 cm) flycatcher, with a large head and a proportionately short tail. Plumage is brownish-olive above (browner on juveniles) with a dull white to yellowish throat, breast, and belly. Streaked or mottled patches on the sides of the breast are dark and distinct from the lighter center. Sexes are similar, but may be separable in the hand by wing chord length, 96 to 109 mm (females) and 103 to 117 mm (males) (Pyle et al. 1987).

The song is a loud, ringing whistle, rather easily imitated, delivered by the male generally from the top of an upright dead snag or living tree such as balsam fir (Abies balsamea), spruce (Picea spp.), tamarack (Larix laricina), or other pointed tree, often the tallest in the area. Most observers use the mnemonic "quick-three-beers" (Peterson 1980) to recall the song. The song is often heard as a foreshortened "free beer." The call is a trebled "pip-pip-pip" (Peterson 1980). Oologist V. Burtch told Bent (1942) that these notes "...seemed to be made mostly by the female in the vicinity of the nest and that all the nests he found were located after hearing these notes."

Head (1903) described another vocalization as being "more like a twitter, and was uttered during excitement, chiefly when the young were learning to fly. It sounded like "why, why, why," repeated very rapidly a number of times. Sometimes this note was given as a prelude to the real..." Bent (1942) also describes a two-syllable song, similar to the Eastern Wood-pesongwee's (Contopus sordidulus) in quality: "The notes may be whistled as 'too-wee' in ascending pitch, slightly suggesting the [Rufous-sided] towhee's (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) notes."

Visit the Montana Animal Field Guide for more information on the Olive-sided Flycatcher

Conserving Westslopes on the East Slope

The bright morning sun filtering through ponderosa pines sparkles off the riffles of Muskrat Creek as the stream twists down from the Elkhorn Mountains. Two Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks fisheries biologists, Lee Nelson and Dave Moser, watch a survey crew work a creek segment with an electric probe, nets, and bucket. Each burst of electricity from the probe temporarily stuns trout, causing them to float to the surface. [Full Story]

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Montanans love wildlife. But it’s one thing to marvel at a mountain goat in Glacier National Park or watch a mule deer trotting across the prairie. It’s another to have a striped skunk camping in your kitchen or a big brown bat fluttering across the bedroom. [Full Story]

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