Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Tyrannus
Species:
T. forficatus
Binomial name
Tyrannus forficatus
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
  Breeding
  Migration
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Muscivora forficata

The scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a long-tailed insectivorous bird of the genus Tyrannus, whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. Its scientific name used to be Muscivora forficata until it was changed to Tyrannus forficatus. It is found in North and Central America.

Taxonomy

The scissor-tailed flycatcher was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus Muscicapa and coined the binomial name Muscicapa forficata.[2][3] The specific epithet is from Latin forfex, forficis meaning "a pair of scissors".[4] Gmelin based his description on "Le moucherolle à queue fourchue du Mexique" (French: "the Mexican swallow-tailed flycatcher") that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon from a specimen from Mexico and illustrated with a hand-coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet.[5][6] The scissor-tailed flycatcher is now one of 13 species placed in the kingbird genus Tyrannus that was introduced in 1799 by Bernard Germain de Lacépède.[7] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[7]

Within the genus Tyrannus, the scissor-tailed flycatcher is most closely related to the western kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis).[8] In eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee, there is a hybrid breeding zone where the scissor-tailed flycatcher and the western kingbird are sympatric and possibly compete for the same niche.[9] Both these species have simultaneously expanded their breeding ranges eastward over the past 50 years.

Description

Adult birds have pale gray heads and upper parts, light underparts, salmon-pink flanks and undertail coverts, and dark gray wings. Axillars and patch on underwing coverts are red.[10] Their extremely long, forked tails, which are black on top and white on the underside, are characteristic and unmistakable. At maturity, the male may be up to 15 in (38 cm) in length, while the female's tail is up to 30% shorter. The wingspan is 15 cm (5.9 in) and the weight is up to 43 g (1.5 oz).[11] Immature birds are duller in color and have shorter tails. A lot of these birds have been reported to be more than 40 cm (16 in).

Breeding

They build a cup nest in isolated trees or shrubs, sometimes using artificial sites such as telephone poles near towns. The male performs a spectacular aerial display during courtship with his long tail forks streaming out behind him. Both parents feed the young. Like other kingbirds, they are very aggressive in defending their nest. Clutches contain three to six eggs.

Diet

In the summer, scissor-tailed flycatchers feed mainly on insects (grasshoppers, robber-flies, and dragonflies), which they may catch by waiting on a perch and then flying out to catch them in flight (hawking). For additional food in the winter they will also eat some berries.

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is open shrubby country with scattered trees in the south-central states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, western portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri west to far eastern New Mexico and northeastern Mexico. Reported sightings record occasional stray visitors as far north as southern Canada and Upstate New York, as far east as Florida and Georgia, and in the West Indies. They migrate through Texas and eastern Mexico to their winter non-breeding range, from southern Mexico to Panama. Pre-migratory roosts and flocks flying south may contain as many as 1000 birds.[12]

In culture

Scissor-tailed flycatcher atop a fire hydrant in Eastern Oklahoma

The scissor-tailed flycatcher is the state bird of Oklahoma, and is displayed in flight with tail feathers spread on the reverse of the Oklahoma Commemorative Quarter.

Professional soccer team FC Tulsa features a scissor-tailed flycatcher on their crest. The scissor-tailed flycatcher is also displayed in the background of the current license plate.

The bird is featured on the box of the popular 2019 board game Wingspan.

Not only that, but a Scissor-tailed flycatcher named MC Sizzy appeared in the 2015 National Geographic Kids TV show of 50 Birds, 50 States as the state bird of Oklahoma in the Oklahoma episode who lives in Oklahoma City. When Barry the Bald eagle asked him about the Sooner State, MC Sizzy said "Oklahoma had a rich history. Before it was a state, they called it Indian Territorry. Plus some of the largest populations of Native Americans in the Nation. The capital is Oklahoma City which also happens to be our most populous city. And one thing I bet you did not know is that the state floral emblem is the Mistletoe!". Then after that, a huge silence came, but it was not the end of the episode.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2021). "Tyrannus forficatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T22700500A137915793. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22700500A137915793.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 931.
  3. ↑ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 225.
  4. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ↑ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1778). "Le moucherolle à queue fourchue du Mexique". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 564–565.
  6. ↑ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de; Martinet, François-Nicolas; Daubenton, Edme-Louis; Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Gobe-mouche à queue fourchue, du Mexique". Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 7. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 677.
  7. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Tyrant flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  8. ↑ Harvey, M.G.; et al. (2020). "The evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspot". Science. 370 (6522): 1343–1348. doi:10.1126/science.aaz6970. hdl:10138/329703. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
  9. ↑ Worm, J.R.; Roeder, D.V.; Husak, M.S.; Fluker, B.L.; Boves, T.J. (2019). "Characterizing patterns of introgressive hybridization between two species of Tyrannus following concurrent range expansion". Ibis. 161 (4): 770–780. doi:10.1111/ibi.12674.
  10. ↑ Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 250.
  11. ↑ Sibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Knopf. p. 338. ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
  12. ↑ "Scissor-tailed Flycatcher". All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
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