The northern tufted flycatcher or simply tufted flycatcher (''Mitrephanes phaeocercus'') is a small
passerine bird in the
tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in highlands from northwestern
Mexico to northwestern
Ecuador. The
olive flycatcher (''Mitrephanes olivaceus'') of Peru and Bolivia is now considered a separate species.
It is a common inhabitant of mature mountain forest and tall second growth, especially at edges and clearings with trees. It breeds from 700–3000 m altitude, but is most abundant from 1200–2150 m. The female builds a saucer nest of moss,
liverworts and
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[bromeliad
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...]
s and other
epiphyte
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...
s. The female incubates the two brown-blotched white eggs for 15–16 days to hatching,
The northern tufted flycatcher is 12 cm long and weighs 8.5 g. The upperparts are olive-green, including the pointed crest. The tail and wings are blackish, and the latter have two buff wing bars and buff edging to the secondary feathers. The breast is ochre-orange, shading to bright yellow on the belly. Sexes are similar, but young birds have brownish upperparts with buff fringing, orange wing bars and paler underparts.
The northern tufted flycatcher is usually seen in pairs, hunting flying
insects from an open perch like a
pewee
The pewees are a genus, ''Contopus'', of small to medium-sized insect-eating birds in the Tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae.
These birds are known as pewees, from the call of one of the more common members of this vocal group. They are generall ...
. It often returns to the same perch and vibrates its tail as it lands.
This species has a rapid ''weet weet weet weet'' call. Its dawn song is a very fast high ''bip-bip-bip-dididiup-bip-bip-bibibiseer''.
Although this species is not
migratory, it is very rare vagrant to the United States, the first record being from
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park is an American national park located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after ...
,
Texas in November 1991. It has also been observed in
Arizona.
References
* Stiles and Skutch, ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica'',
Further reading
*
External links
First US record
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1268784
northern tufted flycatcher
Birds of Mexico
Birds of Central America
Birds of El Chocó
northern tufted flycatcher
northern tufted flycatcher