Scissor-tailed flycatcher

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Scissor-tailed flycatcher

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Tyrannus
Species:
T. forficatus
Binomial name
Tyrannus forficatus
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
  Breeding
  Migration
  Nonbreeding
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

monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[7]

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

coverts, and dark gray wings. Axillars and patch on underwing coverts are red.[10] Their extremely long, forked tails, which are black on top and white on the underside, are characteristic and unmistakable. At maturity, the male may be up to 15 in (38 cm) in length, while the female's tail is up to 30% shorter. The wingspan is 15 cm (5.9 in) and the weight is up to 43 g (1.5 oz).[11] Immature birds are duller in color and have shorter tails. A lot of these birds have been reported to be more than 40 cm (16 in).[citation needed
]

Breeding

They build a cup nest in isolated trees or shrubs, sometimes using artificial sites such as

telephone poles near towns. The male performs a spectacular aerial display during courtship with his long tail forks streaming out behind him. Both parents feed the young. Like other kingbirds, they are very aggressive in defending their nest. Clutches contain three to six eggs
.

Diet

In the summer, scissor-tailed flycatchers feed mainly on insects (

berries
.

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

Oklahoma Commemorative Quarter
.

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

References

  1. . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 225.
  4. .
  5. ^ 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.
  6. 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.
  7. ^ . IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  8. hdl:10138/329703. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here
    .
  9. .
  10. ^ Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 250.
  11. .
  12. ^ "Scissor-tailed Flycatcher". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

External links