The Olive-sided Flycatcher

The Olive-sided Flycatcher can apparently be confused with a few other types of flycatchers, but based on everything I can find out about them, I'm reasonably certain my identification is correct on this one. Assuming I am correct with the identification, this bird is here in the Leon Creek watershed on a stopover in its migration from its summer home in the far north to its winter home in Central or South America. They cover a whole lot of miles in a year.

This is probably as good a time as any to point out that many of the birds seen in Bexar County are migratory (TPWD pdf link) and are only here for part of the year. So, the birds you might see at one time of year in a given location may only be passing through or living here for a portion of the year and won't be seen at the location year around.

In addition to looking like an olive-sided flycatcher, this one was also behaving like an olive-sided flycatcher is supposed to: perching at the top of a very tall snag (a.k.a. dead tree), swooping down to catch its prey and returning immediately to the same perch. Notice that in the fifth photo down, it is still holding its last catch in its beak.

These photos were taken on my walk Friday, September 1 on the Leon Creek Greenway.