This small flycatcher lives in dry highland shrublands and open woods, where it waits for insects from a perch. Its slow downward tail dip helps distinguish it from similar flycatchers.
It has pale gray plumage and a somewhat longer tail and bill than many other Empidonax flycatchers.
It searches for insects in low sagebrush, pine, and juniper, sometimes close to the ground, then darts from a perch to catch them. While perched it slowly dips its tail.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.