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flycatcher

 
Dictionary: fly·catch·er
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(flī'kăch'ər, -kĕch'-) pronunciation
n.
  1. Any of various Eurasian birds of the family Muscicapidae that feed on insects, usually catching the insects in flight.
  2. Any of various similar American birds of the family Tyrannidae. Also called tyrant flycatcher.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: flycatcher
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Any of numerous small passerine birds that capture insects on the wing, particularly more than 100 Old World species of the family Muscicapidae and more than 400 New World species called tyrant flycatchers (family Tyrannidae). The most common Old World species, the spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), is 5.5 in. (14 cm) long and streaked grayish brown. It inhabits open woodlands and gardens eastward from Europe, where it breeds, through Asia. Tyrant flycatchers include the manakins, pewees, kingbirds, becards, and cotingas, among others. Most have a large head, short legs, and a broad bill (e.g., phoebes).

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Columbia Encyclopedia: flycatcher
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flycatcher, common name for various members of the Old World family Muscicapidae, insectivorous songbirds including the kingbirds, phoebes, and pewees. Flycatchers vary in color from drab to brilliant, as in the crested monarch and paradise flycatchers of Asia and Africa. The New World family Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers), includes 365 species distributed over the Americas from the Canadian tree limit to Patagonia. Most are arboreal and inconspicuously colored in olive-green, brown, or gray, the species grading into one another almost imperceptibly. They range in length from 31/2 in. to 16 in. (8.7-40 cm), the majority being under 10 in. (25 cm). Flycatchers have large heads, broad shoulders, flattish bills, pointed wings, and small, weak legs and feet. The tails are rounded or shallowly forked, except for that of the scissor-tailed flycatcher of the SW United States, a gray bird with black wings and tail and reddish patches at the wing base, whose long (7-10 in./17.5-25 cm), deeply forked tail enables it to perform aerial acrobatics. Flycatchers characteristically feed by darting after insects from an advantageous perch; the name tyrant reflects their pugnacity toward crows, hawks, and other large birds, which they harass with great determination. Their crown feathers are more or less erectile; in the royal flycatcher of Mexico and Brazil, Pyrocephalus rubineus Mexicanus, also called vermilion flycatcher, they are developed into a flaming crest. Many flycatchers are found near water, e.g., the eastern phoebe, or water pewee (Sayiornis fusca), a gray bird named for its plaintive, repetitive call and identifiable by its habit of flicking or bobbing its tail while perched. The wood pewee, genus Contopus, is a shy forest bird. The Say's, black, and San Jose phoebes are Western species. The 9-in. (22.5 cm) eastern kingbird is typical of the kingbird group; it has a dark back, white breast, and white-tipped tail. Kingbirds are also called bee martins, though they actually prefer other insects. The small (under 6 in./15 cm) empidonax flycatchers are all olive-green and are difficult to distinguish; they include the least, Acadian, and alder (or Traill's) flycatchers of the East and the western, Hammond's, Wright's, and vermilion flycatchers of the West. The South American kiskadee dives for fish like a kingfisher. The nesting habits of flycatchers vary; the typical nest is an open cup in a tree, but some nest on buildings and in concealed places, and the great crested flycatcher of E North America is a cavity-nester that habitually lines its nest with cast snake skins. Certain fly-catching warblers, belonging to a different family, are sometimes called flycatchers. Flycatchers are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeres, families Muscicapidae and Tyrannidae.

WordNet: flycatcher
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: any of a large group of small songbirds that feed on insects taken on the wing
  Synonyms: Old World flycatcher, true flycatcher

Meaning #2: large American birds that characteristically catch insects on the wing
  Synonyms: New World flycatcher, tyrant flycatcher, tyrant bird

Wikipedia: Tyrant flycatcher
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Tyrant flycatchers
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Tyrannus forficatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Tyranni
Family: Tyrannidae
Vigors, 1825
Genera

Some 100, see text
Distribution of tyrant flycatchers

The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America, but are mainly Neotropical in distribution. They are now considered the largest family of birds on Earth, with around 400 species. In every country in the Americas, except for the United States and Canada, they are the most diverse avian family. As could be expected from a family this large, the members vary greatly both in shape, patterns and colours. Some Tyrant flycatchers superficially resemble the Old World flycatchers. They are members of suborder Tyranni (suboscines) that do not have the sophisticated vocal capabilities of the songbirds.

Most, but not all, are rather plain, and many have erectile crests. As the name implies, most are insectivorous, but some will eat fruit or small vertebrates (e.g. small frogs). The smallest family members are the closely related Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant and Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant. With a total length of a mere 6.5-6.8 cm (2.5-2.7 in) and a weight of 4-5 grams, they are the smallest passerines on earth. The largest tyrant flycatcher is the Great Shrike-Tyrant at 29 cm (11.5 in) and 88 grams (3.1 oz). A few species such as the Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Fork-tailed Flycatcher have a larger total length, but this is mainly due to their very long tails.

A number of species previously included in this family are now placed in the family Tityridae (see Systematics).

Contents

Habitat and distribution

Species richness of Tyrannidae, when compared to habitat, is highly variable. The habitats of tropical lowland evergreen forest and montane evergreen forest have the highest single site species diversity while many habitats including rivers, palm forest, white sand forest, tropical deciduous forest edge, southern temperate forest, southern temperate forest edge, semi-humid/humid montane scrub, and northern temperate grassland have the lowest single species diversity. The variation between the highest and the lowest is extreme; ninety species can be found in the tropical lowland evergreen forests while the number of species that can be found in the habitats listed above typically are in the single digits. This may be due in part to the fewer niches found in certain areas and therefore fewer places for the species to occupy.

Tyrannidae specialization among habitat is very strong in tropical lowland evergreen forests and montane evergreen forests. These habitat types therefore display the greatest specialization. The counts differ by three species (tropical lowland evergreen forests have 49 endemic species and montane evergreen forests have 46 endemic species). It can be assumed that they both have similar levels of specialization.

Regionally, the Atlantic Forest has the highest species richness with the Chocó following closely behind.

Protected status

The Northern Beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) and the Rose-throated Becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae) are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.[1]. Both these species are common south of the US border. The situation for a number of other species from South and Central America is far more problematic. In 2007, BirdLife International (and consequently IUCN) considered two species, the Minas Gerais Tyrannulet and Kaempfer's Tody-Tyrant critically endangered. Both are endemic to Brazil. Additional, 7 species were considered endangered and 18 species vulnerable.[1]

Systematics

There are about 400 species in 97 genera. A full list, sortable by common and binomial names is at list of tyrant flycatchers. Species in the genera Tityra, Pachyramphus, Laniocera and Xenopsaris have been placed in this family, but evidence strongly suggest they belong in Tityridae[2], where now placed by SACC.

Northern Royal Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus (coronatus) mexicanus
Eastern Wood Pewee, Contopus virens
The Great Shrike-tyrant (Agriornis lividus) is the largest species of tyrant flycatcher.
Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus
Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Tyrannus savana
Common Tody Flycatcher, Todirostrum cinereum
Agile Tit-Tyrant, Anairetes agilis

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2007). Species factsheets. Accessed 12 December 2007 available online
  2. ^ Adopt the Family Tityridae - South American Classification Committee (2007)

External links

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tyrant flycatcher".  Read more