The Willow Flycatcher, Empidonax traillii, looks as most Tyrant Flycatchers do: challenging, daring you to identify it. The Tyrant Flycatchers all bear a striking resemblance to one another, with some species being almost impossible to discern until they open their beaks to sing. Their buzzy, sharp, staccato syllables are as key to correctly identifying one as the bright patterns and colorations on more vibrant birds. Unlike most songbirds, Flycatchers don't learn their songs from their parents, but are born knowing it. Willow Flycatchers play a key role in testing this as researchers raised chicks from hatchling hearing only the songs of other Flycatchers, yet as they matured they knew and sang the Willow Flycatcher fitz-pew as if they'd never heard anything else.

Read more about Willow Flycatchers at All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Willow_Flycatcher/

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Image Credit "578 - WILLOW FLYCATCHER (6-4-08) carrizo, saucito ranch lower spring, carrizo plain nat mon, slo co, ca" by Sloalan is marked with CC0 1.0