None of the members of this family that occur in North American are threatened with extinction. Members of this family glean insects off of vegetation and pick them out of the air in fluttering flight. Most Muscicapidae species are solitary birds for most of the year although some species forage with other bird species in mixed flocks. In North America, all members of this family are migratory and spend the winter in Africa and southern Asia. The other North American Muscicapidae species are vagrants from Asia. A third species that was introduced to Hawaii occurs in gardens. The two species that breed in North America are birds of the tundra and willow thickets. Members of the Muscicapidae occur in a wide variety of habitats that include tundra, grasslands, marshes, boreal forests, gardens, and tropical forests.

Some species also have patches of red and several have plumages that are predominantly blue. Members of the Muscicapidae often show different shades of brown, chestnut, gray, white, and black in their plumage. Although the wheatears and a few other species have long wings, most have short wings, medium-length tails, and rather long, strong legs and feet for hopping on the ground. The Old World flycatchers are small birds with thin, rather short bills. In Europe, the European Robin is one of the most well known, confiding, garden bird species. The members of this family are known for their cheery, chattering songs and small size. All but three of these species are vagrants to the region.

There are sixteen species of Old World flycatchers in seven genera in the Muscicapidae that have occurred in North America and Hawaii. There are three hundred and fifteen species of Old World flycatchers in forty-eight genera in the Muscicapidae (pronounced musi-KAP-uh-dee), a family mostly found in Eurasia and Africa. The Old World flycatchers are one of the one hundred forty-two families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez) a large taxonomic order that includes bird families such as the nuthatches, swallows, and starlings.

Bluetail bird