Brown-crested flycatcher

Brown-crested flycatcher
At Piraju, São Paulo State, Brazil
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Tyrannidae
Genus:	Myiarchus
Species:	M. tyrannulus
Binomial name
Myiarchus tyrannulus (Statius Müller, 1776)

The brown-crested flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus) is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family.

Description

Adult brown-crested flycatchers are 20.3 cm (8.0 in) long and weigh 30 g (1.1 oz) and have heavy bills. The upperparts are olive brown, with a darker head and short crest. The breast is grey and the belly is lemon yellow. The brown tail feathers have rufous inner webs, the remiges have rufous outer webs, and there are two dull wing bars. The sexes are similar.

The brown-crested flycatcher is best separated from other confusingly similar Myiarchus species by its call, a rough loud "come HERE, come HERE" or "whit-will-do, whit-will-do".

Tucson, Arizona

Distribution and ecology

The brown-crested flycatcher breeds in open woodland from southern California, southern Nevada, central Arizona, and southern Texas southward to Argentina and Bolivia, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It is resident in most of its range, but individuals breeding in the United States retreat to Mexico or southern Florida in winter.

This species is a rather skulking insectivore which catches its prey by flycatching amongst the undergrowth. It sometimes eats fruit, such as the "gumbo-limbo", Bursera simaruba. The nest is built in a tree cavity or similar natural or man-made hole, and the normal clutch is two or three purple-marked cream eggs.

External links

• Brown-crested flycatcher videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Brown-crested flycatcher photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Brown-crested flycatcher species account at NeotropicalBirds (Cornell University)

• Interactive range map of Myiarchus tyrannulus at IUCN Red List maps