Myiarchus

Myiarchus
Myiarchus
Great Crested Flycatcher
Myiarchus crinitus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Myiarchus
Cabanis, 1844
Species

see text

Myiarchus is a genus of tyrant flycatchers. They are all fairly similar looking and areas where they overlap in range can making identification to species difficult at best.

Myiarchus flycatchers are fairly large tyrant-flycatchers at 16-23 cm (6.3-9 in) long. They are all partially crested with a brown to gray back and head, a rufous to blackish tail and yellow to pale underparts. They typically forage by perching on an open branch and looking outward and downward for prey, which primarily consists of insects. Once it spots a potential meal, the flycatcher rapidly and directly flies at the insect, which is normally on the exposed upper surface of a leaf or twig.[1] It hovers briefly before the insect before grabbing it in its beak and flying away to typically a new perch.[1]


References

  1. ^ a b Lanyon, Wesley (July 1982). "Behavior, Morphology, and Systematics of the Flammulated Flycatcher of Mexico". Auk (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press) 99 (3): 414–423. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v099n03/p0414-p0423.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-24.