Fork-tailed Flycatcher

The Fork-tailed Flycatcher is one of the most elegant and easily recognized birds of open country in the Americas, instantly identifiable by its dramatically long, deeply forked tail, especially striking in adult males, which can trail well behind the bird in flight. The head shows a black cap, often with a partly concealed yellow or orange crown patch, above a pale gray back and clean white underparts.

Wings are dark, contrasting with the pale body, and the tail, black and scissor-like, is by far the bird's most distinctive feature, streaming out behind it as it flies buoyantly over open fields. Females and immatures have shorter tails than adult males but share the same basic black-cap-and-pale-body pattern.

A member of the kingbird genus Tyrannus, this flycatcher is a conspicuous and often abundant sight perched on wires, fence posts, and low shrubs across open grassland and agricultural landscapes.

Key field marks

• Black cap contrasting with a pale gray back
• Clean white underparts
• Extremely long, deeply forked black tail, longest in adult males
• Buoyant, graceful flight with the tail streaming behind

Similar species

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is similar in shape but has extensive salmon-pink underwing and flank coloring and a paler overall body; Fork-tailed Flycatcher lacks the pink tones and has cleaner white underparts. Immature or short-tailed individuals can resemble kingbirds but the tail shape, even when shorter, retains a forked profile.

Habitat

This species favors open habitats including grassland, savanna, agricultural fields, pastures, and marshy edges, generally avoiding forested areas.

Range

It breeds widely across South America, from Colombia and Venezuela south through Brazil to Argentina, with some Central American and Mexican populations as well; many southern populations are strongly migratory.

Migration

Southern breeding populations undertake substantial migrations northward into the Amazon basin and parts of Central America outside the breeding season, making this one of the more migratory tyrant flycatchers in the Americas.

Behavior

Fork-tailed Flycatchers are often seen perched conspicuously on wires, fences, or low shrubs in open country, sallying out to catch insects and sometimes gathering in large flocks, especially during migration or in the non-breeding season.

Voice

Its calls include sharp, twittering, and buzzy notes, generally simple and not especially musical compared to some songbirds, given while perched or in flight.

Feeding

It feeds almost entirely on flying insects, caught in aerial sallies from an exposed perch, occasionally supplemented with some fruit.

Nesting and breeding

The species builds an open cup nest in a shrub or low tree, often in an exposed location, where the female incubates the eggs while both parents defend the nest vigorously, sometimes attacking much larger birds that approach.