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 240 - Ecuador #4 - Flycatchers

The tyrannidae family of birds known as tyrant flycatchers is the largest family of birds with about 430 species. All are in the New World. English names for that many species becomes a problem. There are phoebes, pewees, flycatchers, tyrants, and kingbirds. Because some of these are the smallest birds besides the hummingbirds, some are named for their small size. We have tody-flycatchers, tody-tyrants, tyrannulets, pygmy-tyrants, micro-tyrants, and nano-tyrants (just kidding on the last 2). 

Any visit to tropical America will produce a dozen or more species of flycatchers. Many of them are rather drab, so I will just show some of the more unusual or colorful of them. The sexes are similar in most species.

The 5" Cinnamon Flycatcher (Pyrrhomyias cinnamomeus) is the sole member of that genus. It has bright cinnamon underparts and wing patches.

Cinnamon Flycatcher 

The 4" Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias griseiceps) has a gray head and bright yellow underparts. There are no wing bars.

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet

The 7" Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) also occurs in the western USA. It is typical of the genus with gray head and throat, brown back and yellow belly. This bird appears to have had some tail feathers chewed off.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

The 5" Ornate Flycatcher (Myiotriccus ornatus) is another monotypic genus. As its name suggests, it should be attractive.  The gray head with white spot in front of the eye is distinctive.

Ornate Flycatcher

The 9" Long-tailed Tyrant (Colonia colonus) is black with a white crown and a couple of extended tail feathers. It is another monotypic genus.

Long-tailed Tyrant

The 4.75" Olive-chested Flycatcher (Myiophobus cryptoxanthus) is a rather dull flycatcher with wing bars. It had streaked brownish olive breast.

Olive-chested Flycatcher

There is a small group of 7 flycatchers called attilas (maybe for Attila the Hun?). The 8" Ochraceous Attila (Attila torridus) is bright rufous with black on the wings. It is listed as uncommon and the guide was excited that we found it.

Add caption

The 4" Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant (Lophotriccus pileatus) was a difficult bird to photograph. It kept moving around to the tape, but always landed behind leaves or branches, so that I never got a photo. Finally, when we were looking at another bird, one flew in and perched right in front on the camera. It is a cute little guy with an yellow-olive back, streaked white underparts, orange crest and white eye.

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant

Bird Families...I have grouped my photos online by country and/or trip report. I now have a substantial number of photos of birds in several of the families and I know sometimes you would just like to see more of them in 1 place.

Click the link to take you to the gallery. Then you can hit ALL to see all the species or just click on the top left photo to  see the first photo and then click NEXT on the top or bottom right to scroll through.

Also, there is a SLIDE SHOW option that you can use that will scroll through all the photos automatically. This option is at the top right. You can select the interval of 1,3,5 or 10 seconds that each photo will be displayed, after you begin the slide show.

I have also put the scientific name and range of the bird below each photo. I will use the most colorful photo I have ...usually a male, but if I don't have that, then a female or juvenile.

Hummingbirds 72 species

Sandpipers 36 species

Plovers 10 species

Gulls, terns, skimmers 33 species

Trogons and Quetzals 7 species

New World Parrots 28 species

Woodpeckers 35 species

Tyrant Flycatchers 75 species

Thrushes 25 species

Tanagers 49 species

Cardinals 23 species

New World Warblers 64 species

Orioles, blackbirds 37 species

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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