Bulletin 411 - Colombia 2022 #8 - Flycatchers

I was planning to go to Peru in 2022 but there were riots and road closures in the areas we were planning to go. So at the last minute I went back to Colombia and saw some other places. 

Unfortunately, there was a lot of overlap, so I did not get a lot of new birds on the trip. However, many areas now have set up feeding stations and several were built for photography. I used the same guide Pablo Florez and I had my daughter with me on the trip this year.

However on the bright side, the setups for photography and the number of places that had feeders allowed me to get many improved photos of birds I had not so good photos before.

The New World flycatchers (tyrannidae) are the largest family of birds with 448 species currently. With the numbers of splits occurring, I would not be surprised if there will be 475 or even 500 species in the years ahead.

It is hard for me to remember which flycatchers I had photographed before. But I definitely know that this endemic to southwest Colombia was a lifer. The 7.5" Apical Flycatcher (Myiarchus apicalis) is a typical looking bird for that genus. It is probably the only genus I can recognize on sight. OK except for the Vermilion Flycatcher hahahaha. There are 3 of this genus in USA and 22 in total.

Apical Flycatcher

The 5.5" Mountain Elaenia (Elaenia frantzii) is a typical drab flycatcher and best IDed by voice. That is why I always have a guide!

Mountain Elaenia

The 3.8" Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) is a widespread bird I have seen many times and I can recognize - the black cap, bright yellow breast and white eye.

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Another I can recognize is the 4.8" Ornate Flycatcher (Myiotriccus ornatus). The bright yellow breast and gray head and the white dot above the eye are diagnostic.

Ornate Flycatcher

The 6" Pacific Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus pacificus) is confined to the Choco region in Colombia and Ecuador. This would be another lifer as I had never been there before. The wide bill and gray eye ring are ID marks, but a guide who knows the voice is best hahaha.

Pacific Flatbill

Tyrannulets are dimunitive flycatchters is several genuses. The 4.5" Black-capped Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias nigrocapillus) is a yellowish flycatcher with wing bars and a black crest.

Black-capped Tyrannulet

The 4.5" Golden-faced Tyrannulet (Zimmerius chrysops) has a light breast and yellow on the face.

Golden-faced Tyrannulet

Chat-Tyrants are a colorful group of medium sized flycatchers. The 6" Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca fumicolor) has a brown back, black wings and a rusty breast.

Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant

His cousin, the 5.5" Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca rufipectoralis) has a striped face, white belly and orange throat and wing bars

Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant

Lastly is the 6" Rufous-tailed Tyrant (Knipolegus poecilurus). He has a distinctive red eye and rufous tail. Although the guide book says this bird is 'uncommon and seldom encountered' this was my second time to see it. 

Rufous-tailed Tyrant

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 134 of the 448 species of Tyrant Flycatchers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald

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Bulletin 199 - Panama #7 - Tyrant Flycatchers

The tyrannidae family, aka Tyrant Flycatchers or New World Flycatchers is the largest family of birds with about 420 species. Many of them are fairly drab, but some are spectacular like the Vermilion Flycatcher or Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. We saw more than a dozen species in Panama. Many of them look alike and have to be IDed by voice. The smallest of these flycatchers are the tiniest birds in the world next to hummers. The sexes are similar except where noted in the descriptions.

I will start with the kiskadees and similar colored birds. The Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) is a stunning 8.5" bird, with brown and rufous wings, bright yellow underparts and striped head. This bird does occur in the USA in south Texas. On reviewing our photos, I guess we didn't take any as we had some from Texas, so here is the bird.

Great Kiskadee

The Lesser Kiskadee (Pitangus lictor) is similar, but only 6.5" in length and it has much smaller bill. It also has less rufous on the wings.


Lesser Kiskadee

Another similar bird is the Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarhynchus pitangus). It is also 8.5" in length, but has an even heavier bill than the Greater Kiskadee and lacks the rufous on the wings.



Boat-billed Flycatcher

The 4th similar bird is the Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis). It is the size of the Lesser Kiskadee, but the crown and sides of face are dark brownish gray rather than black and the back is more olive.

Social Flycatcher

The last of this coloration is the Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis). It is smaller still at 6", but has the black head, brown back and some rufous on the wings.

Rusty-margined Flycatcher

The Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus) is another large (8") flycatcher. It is IDed by the streaked back and underparts and a rufous tail.

Streaked Flycatcher

The much smaller (5.5") but similar Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) lacks the streaking on the back and rufous tail. It has a much smaller bill as well.

Piratic Flycatcher

The Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) is a tiny (4") bird with a black face, dark gray head and back and bright yellow underparts.

Common Tody-Flycatcher

The myiarchus genus is well represented in North America. The Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) has the typical coloration with a brown back, yellow belly and gray head and breast.

Panama Flycatcher

The Paltry Tyrannulet (Zimmerius vilissimus) is a tiny (4") flycatcher best IDed by voice. But it does have yellow wing edges and gray underparts that differ from other tiny flycatchers.

Paltry Tyrannulet

Elaenias are a group of small flycatchers that can be IDed by the median crown stripe on their head. The Forest Elaenia (Myiopagis gaimardii) can be IDed by narrow bill and yellow wing bars and wing edges.

Forest Elaenia

The Long-tailed Tyrant (Colonia colonus) is small (4.5") flycatcher with 2 elongated tail feathers (longer in males). It is black with a white stripe across the face and another down the back.

Long-tailed Tyrant

The Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) is gray with yellow underparts. It lacks the white tail edges of the Western Kingbird which is the only other bird of this coloration in Panama. Also, the notched tail is diagnostic. This bird occurs along the southern border of USA.

Tropical Kingbird

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2014 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.