Alder Flycatcher
Learn to identify the Alder Flycatcher by ear. Master the "free BEER!" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Alder Flycatcher sounds like
A small, plain flycatcher of wet thickets and young woods, more subtle than flashy. Look for dull brownish-olive upperparts, a broad-based bill with a pale lower mandible, and only a faint eye-ring—often so weak it barely shows.
“free BEER!”
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Alder Flycatcher
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Alder Flycatcher's sounds in these interactive in-app lessons.
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Where you'll hear it
A long-distance migrant. It breeds across northern North America and winters in western South America along the Andean foothills and adjacent lowlands, from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia through eastern Ecuador to eastern Peru and northern to eastern Bolivia.
Breeds in soggy alder and willow tangles, shrubby bog edges, beaver wetlands, and wet second growth. On migration it turns up in brushy edges, woodland borders, and other dense cover.
Most obvious in late spring and summer, when singing males blurt their sharp song from exposed shrubs. In migration it can feel secretive and easy to overlook unless it calls.