Fork-tailed Flycatcher - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Fabio
Viamao, Brazil, February 2006

Tyrannus savana

Identification

Male 37–40·5 cm (14½-16 in), female 28–30 cm (11-11¾ in) includes length of tail

• Black head
• Yellow crown stripe (not always visible)
• Pale grey back
• White underparts
• Juvenile has the same coloration, but only a short tail.

Sexes similar.

Distribution

Immature
Photo © by Celso Paris
Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1917

Central America and South America.

Relatively regular vagrant to North America.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Photo © by Charelli
Argentina, November, 2013

There are 4 subspecies^[1]

• T. s. savana:

• Breeds in central and southern South America (eastern Bolivia and southern Brazil south to central Argentina); southern populations migratory, wintering in northern South America, Trinidad, and Tobago

• T. s. monachus: has a lighter back than nominate

• Southern Mexico (Veracruz) to Colombia, the Guianas and northern Brazil

• T. s. sanctaemartae:

• Caribbean coast of northern Colombia and north-western Venezuela (Guajira Peninsula)

• T. s. circumdatus:

• Lower Amazonian Brazil (west to Manaus area)

Habitat

Found in a wide variety of habitats; light forests, city parks, riverine, humid forests, open fields near rainforest edge, grassland, Pacific lowlands, highly disturbed dry tropical forest with open pastures for grazing cattle, savannas. Open areas, agricultural field with scattered trees, scrubby farmland

Observed at heights around 20-29 m.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of flying insects during the breeding season with the addition of fruit (berries and palm fruit) at other times.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Arthur Grosset
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved December 2016)
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Fork-tailed Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 December 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Fork-tailed_Flycatcher

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