Return of Bird of the Week: Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Oaxaca, Mexico
This is a pretty wretched photo; WC includes it only because it’s the best image WC has of this distant cousin to last week’s Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher. It’s a vagrant species in the United States, but fairly common in Mexico and Central America, and much of South America. The tail is even longer than the Scissor-tailed’s. It’s difficult to confuse the two species: the Scissor-tailed has a white head; the Fork-tailed has a black cap and lacks the buffy wash on the sides of the body.
This is a bird of open habitats, including forest edges, secondary vegetation, savannas, pastures, residential areas, lawns, woodlands, cerrado, and mangroves. It hunts on the wing, and that long tail flutters and streams behind the bird as swoops to nab flying insects.
The species has adapted to human disturbances well; we may have even increased its population and distribution by creating more of its preferred habitat. Populations presently appear to be stable.
For more bird photographs, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Bless this sharp lil travelor of the lands. As it seems to have adapted to the many changes of landscapes..mankind has..been in the habit of providing..may we see in it’s..ways forward for humand kind. With a white house in limbo..and strange goings-on..we the greatest mass of americans..keep designing..’new ways’ to bring our beloved country..back into balance. We do have..also..’creative wisdoms’!