Variegated Flycatcher

Empidonomus variusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

General

Variegated Flycatcher: Medium-sized flycatcher with dark brown-and-black scaled upperparts, thick, dark brown eye-line on pale face, thin brown moustache stripe, and dark-streaked, pale yellow underparts. Wing feathers are dark with pale edges. Tail feathers are dark with thick rufous edges. Upper mandible is black, lower mandible is dark with yellow base. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Variegated Flycatcher: Accidental in North America; recorded in Maine, Tennessee, and Florida (Florida record remains questionable). Uncommon to common in South America.

Voice Text

"zreeeee", "chee-chee-chuuuuuuu"

Interesting Facts

A group of flycatchers has many collective nouns, including an "outfield", "swatting", "zapper", and "zipper" of flycatchers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007 Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
Privacy Policy.

Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Variegated Flycatcher

Variegated Flycatcher: Medium flycatcher, dark brown-and-black scaled upperparts, brown eye-line on pale face, thin brown moustache stripe, dark-streaked, pale yellow underparts. Dark pale edged wing feathers. Dark tail feathers with thick rufous edges. Eats insects, berries, fruits.

● Song: "zreeeee", "chee-chee-chuuuuuuu"

● Foraging & Feeding: Variegated Flycatcher: Eats mostly insects, berries, and fruits; forages from a low perch, flying out to catch insects in mid-air, and then returning to perch to eat.

● Breeding & nesting: Variegated Flycatcher: Three to four white to pale buff eggs heavily spotted with red brown are laid in a cup nest made of twigs, bark, leaf stems, and grass, and built on a horizontal tree branch 8 to 25 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 14 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Variegated Flycatcher: Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher is larger, has brighter yellow underparts more heavily streaked with brown, more rufous on tail and rump, and wider moustache stripe.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering direct flight on shallow wing beats., Sallies from perch to hawk insects and returns to the same or nearby perch.

Variegated Flycatcher Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Variegated Flycatcher: Accidental in North America; recorded in Maine, Tennessee, and Florida (Florida record remains questionable). Uncommon to common in South America.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationAccidental in North America

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America