Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Scissor-tailed flycatcher | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Tyrannidae |
Genus: | Tyrannus |
Species: | T. forficatus
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Binomial name | |
Tyrannus forficatus (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
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Breeding Migration Nonbreeding
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Synonyms | |
Muscivora forficata |
The scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a long-tailed insectivorous bird of the genus Tyrannus, whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. Its scientific name used to be Muscivora forficata until it was changed to Tyrannus forficatus. It is found in North and Central America.
Taxonomy
The scissor-tailed flycatcher was
Within the genus Tyrannus, the scissor-tailed flycatcher is most closely related to the western kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis).[8] In eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee, there is a hybrid breeding zone where the scissor-tailed flycatcher and the western kingbird are sympatric and possibly compete for the same niche.[9] Both these species have simultaneously expanded their breeding ranges eastward over the past 50 years.
Description
Adult birds have pale gray heads and upper parts, light underparts, salmon-pink flanks and undertail
Breeding
They build a cup nest in isolated trees or shrubs, sometimes using artificial sites such as
Diet
In the summer, scissor-tailed flycatchers feed mainly on insects (
Distribution and habitat
Their breeding habitat is open shrubby country with scattered trees in the south-central states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, western portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri west to far eastern New Mexico and northeastern Mexico. Reported sightings record occasional stray visitors as far north as southern Canada and Upstate New York, as far east as Florida and Georgia, and in the West Indies. They migrate through Texas and eastern Mexico to their winter non-breeding range, from southern Mexico to Panama. Pre-migratory roosts and flocks flying south may contain as many as 1000 birds.[12]
In culture
Professional soccer team FC Tulsa features a scissor-tailed flycatcher on their crest. The scissor-tailed flycatcher is also displayed in the background of the current license plate.
The bird is featured on the box of the popular 2019 board game Wingspan.
A scissor-tailed flycatcher named MC Sizzy is featured in the 2015 National Geographic Kids TV show 50 Birds, 50 States.
Gallery
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At the National Aviary
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At the National Aviary
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Near Tampico, Mexico
References
- . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 931.
- ^ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 225.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1778). "Le moucherolle à queue fourchue du Mexique". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 564–565.
- Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Gobe-mouche à queue fourchue, du Mexique". Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 7. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 677.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Tyrant flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- hdl:10138/329703. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
- .
- ^ Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 250.
- ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
- ^ "Scissor-tailed Flycatcher". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
External links
- "Tyrannus forficatus ". Avibase.
- Scissor-tailed flycatcher - Tyrannus forficatus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Stamps[usurped] for El Salvador, Nicaragua, United States at bird-stamps.org
- Scissor-tailed flycatcher photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- "Scissor-tailed flycatcher media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Birds of Oklahoma: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Oklahoma's State Bird (with link to image gallery)
- Scissor-tailed flycatcher species account at Neotropical Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
- Interactive range map of Tyrannus forficatus at IUCN Red List maps