Fig. 28. — Acadian flycatcher on its nest. Photo taken in Pope 
inty. Like other Empzdonax, Acadians have whitish wing bars (just 
ble over rim of nest) and a light eye-ring. 
tral Lee County supports populations of less than 1 
100 acres. 
In addition to the plotted records (Fig. 31), there are 
orts of nesting, without specific localities given, for 
lhoun, St. Clair, and Madison counties (Richard 
derson, personal communication). 
sting Habitats and Populations 
The Acadian flycatcher Particularly favors damp 
ests with understory in bottomlands. Forested streams 
ilmost any size are used by Acadians, and they follow 
n the small spring branches well up into wooded hills, 
, upland woods. Deep flooding of many major river 
eys in Illinois in 1973 did not appear to deter 
idians, as we observed good populations in flooded 
sts where the water depth was at least 10 feet, and no 
und was visible for a quarter of a mile or more. Floods 
t kill the trees, however, destroy Acadian habitat, 
ch is generally well-shaded, often with high mosquito 
ulations. Acadians occupy the lowest tree canopy and 
lerstory layers of the forest. Tree size and age 
uirements of the habitat have not been studied, but 
1b habitat is definitely not suitable for Acadians. 
Published population figures for the Acadian 
atcher are mainly for central Illinois (Table 5). In 40 
‘s of summer censuses of upland Trelease Woods near 
ana, Kendeigh and his co-workers found this species 
ent only 9 years (Table 5). Not far away, in 
omland forest along the Sangamon River in Piatt 
nty, Acadian populations varied from 8 to 32 birds 
Ne if . , x ‘6a ‘ a 
— * x x * 
2 oe Keo 
< 
=f 
° 200 400 = 600800 
miles 
Fig. 29. — General distribution of the Acadian flycatcher. The 
outlined range may include large sections in which populations of the 
species are thin or even absent because of the nature of the terrain and 
the paucity of suitable habitat. 
al 
