Vermilion Flycatcher

Pyrocephalus rubinus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family TYRANNIDAE - Subfamily Fluvicolinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A spectacular and distinctive flycatcher, the bright red Vermilion Flycatcher inhabits riparian areas and scrub in the southwestern United States and southward. It perches conspicuously, making periodic flights to nab insect prey.

Cool Facts

• The breeding male Vermilion Flycatcher spends about 90 percent of the day perched.
• Twelve subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher are recognized, including a race with a dark morph that ranges from western Peru to northern Chile. Both male and female of this morph are dark all over, with some males having a few red feathers on the head, and some females having a pinkish wash under the tail. About half of the Vermilion Flycatchers in Lima, Peru are the dark morph, but the proportion decreases as one goes further southward.

• The male Vermilion Flycatcher often seeks to initiate copulation by delivering a butterfly or other showy insect to the female.

Description

• Size: 13-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Weight: 11-14 g (0.39-0.49 ounces)

• Small flycatcher.
• Male has bright red or red-orange head and underparts.
• Female is dull grayish brown above, with pale red under the tail and a streaked whitish chest.

• Tail medium short and dark.
• Bill brownish black, short and broad.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs and feet blackish.

Sex Differences

Male is bright red on crown and underparts; female is dull gray and white, with pale red only under the tail.

Male

Crown, lower face, and underparts brilliant scarlet or vermilion. Upperparts, nape, and mask through the eye blackish brown. Wings and tail dark blackish brown. Outer tail feathers may be edged with white. Narrow white tip on tail.

Female

Upperparts grayish brown. Underparts white near throat, becoming pale salmon or orangish under the tail. Breast, sides, and flanks streaked with grayish brown. Dull white eyebrow stripe and gray line through eyes. Wings and tail dark grayish brown. Some may have a few pinkish red feathers on the crown or breast.

Immature

Juvenile with scaly grayish back, white underparts, white outer tail feathers, and dusky spotting across chest. Immature male resembles adult female, with more extensive reddish color under tail and on flanks and variable amounts of dull red mottling. Immature female is similar to adult female, but with yellow, not reddish, under the tail.

Similar Species

• Say's Phoebe has reddish wash on flanks and tail, but lacks the whitish, streaked chest of female Vermilion Flycatcher.

Sound

Song is a series of chips followed by a trill; often repeated about 10 times. Call is a sharp, long "peent."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and widely throughout Mexico, Central America, and much of South America, including the Galapagos Islands.

Winter Range

Resident year-round throughout almost all of breeding range. Populations in the United States migrate or wander in winter.

Habitat

Scrub, desert, cultivated lands, and riparian woodlands.

Food

Insects and other arthropods.

Behavior

Foraging

Sits and waits on an open perch, locates prey, and pursues it. Often takes prey on the wing, from ground level to a height of about 10 meters (33 ft).

Displays

During breeding season, the male Vermilion Flycatcher performs a spectacular display, fluttering 10 to 30 meters (11-33 ft) above the canopy, singing.

Courtship

The male Vermilion Flycatcher often seeks to initiate copulation by delivering a butterfly or other showy insect to the female.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A loose cup of twigs, grasses, and fibers, lined with down, feathers, and hair. Usually placed in a fork in a horizontal tree branch, about 2.5 to 6 meters (8-20 ft) off the ground.

Egg Description

White or creamy, with bold dark blotches and small lighter spots.

Clutch Size

2-4 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse whitish down, back skin blackish.

Conservation Status

Common in most of range. Human water use and land development have caused drastic declines in Vermilion Flycatcher populations in the lower Colorado River Valley. Habitat destruction poses threats to the species in various parts of its range.

Other Names

Moucherolle vermillon (French)
Mosquero cardenal (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Wolf. B. O., and S. L. Jones. 2000. Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus). In The Birds of North America, No. 484 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.