Associated Species: Other species that may use habitat in a similar way and/or respond similarly to threats, management, and conservation activities include Ash-throated Flycatcher, Gray Vireo, Pinyon Jay, Juniper Titmouse, and Bewick's Wren.

Distribution: Gray Flycatcher breeding range extends from central Oregon throughout the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and northern New Mexico. In western Colorado they breed from Moffat County southward and in eastern Colorado from Fremont County southward to New Mexico and eastward to southern Chaffee County. They winter from southern Arizona south to central Mexico.

Habitat Requirements: Gray Flycatchers are pinyon-juniper obligates in Colorado. They nest in open pinyon-juniper woodlands, especially where they are adjacent to or intermixed with sagebrush and/or greasewood openings. They use stands with large decadent and dead trees, whether dominated by juniper or by pinyon.

Ecology: These birds arrive from Mexico by early May, and the nesting cycle begins soon after arrival. They build open cup nests of bark, plant down, weed stems and grass, lined with feathers and hair, in the crotch of a juniper or sagebrush 0.6-3 m (2-9 ft) above the ground. Gray Flycatchers lay 3-4 eggs, which the females incubate. They incubate for14 days, and the young remain in the nest for another 16 days. Gray Flycatchers are strict insectivores. They frequently forage for insects flying low to the ground.

Management Issues and Conservation Recommendations: Gray Flycatchers have a relatively high tolerance for habitat disturbance. They occur in stands of less than one hectare (2.5 ac), but not in such stands isolated from larger stands by a kilometer (0.6 mi) or more. Avoid management practices which result in fragmenting pinyon-juniper stands into very small patches.

As with most other pinyon-juniper woodland birds, extensive use of insecticides would be catastrophic to the population. Use pesticides as sparingly as possible, and postpone such use until birds have completed their breeding cycle.

Brown-headed Cowbirds frequently parasitize Gray Flycatcher nests (Terres 1981). Rest pastures in rotation to allow relief from cowbird parasitism.

Status and Reasons for Concern: This species has a high conservation need locally and throughout its range. Colorado has a high area responsibility with more than 20% of the Gray Flycatcher's breeding range, and populations throughout its range are highly vulnerable. In Physiographic Area 87, BBS data do not show a statistically significant annual rate of change between 1966 and 1996 (P = 0.55, n = 14 routes). Gray Flycatchers were present on an average of 34.79% (SE = 3.60) of the BBS routes run in Physiographic Area 87 in Colorado during 1988-1997, at an average abundance of 1.60 (SE = 0.19) individuals per route. Mean number of routes run in Physiographic Area 87 during 1988-1997 was 11.4 (SE = 1.55). This species is monitored by MCB with point transects.

Biological Objective: Maintain or increase the species' distribution and abundance, based upon results of the BBS and MCB monitoring programs. A pinyon-juniper woodland point count average of 0.1 or better occurrence rate per point would demonstrate adequate population densities.

Selected References: Andrews and Righter 1992, Kingery 1998, Terres 1981.