Baird's Flycatcher

Overview

Baird's flycatcher (Myiodynastes bairdii) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, found in Ecuador and Peru. It is a year-round resident that is considered generally common across its range, though its status is uncertain in southern Peru.

Identification

• Approximately 23 cm long with a pale sandy brown to whitish forecrown and sandy brown crown.
• Features a wide black mask extending to dusky ear coverts and upperparts that are mostly olive-brown with a rufous rump.
• Possesses a black bill with a dusky white base and gray to black legs.
• Dawn song consists of a repeating 'wrrr-yeeít' phrase, sometimes followed by an ascending jumbled phrase.

Habitat

Inhabits somewhat dry deciduous forest, woodlands, gallery forest, secondary forest, arid scrublands, and towns from central Manabí Province in west-central Ecuador south to Peru's Lima Department. Elevation ranges from sea level to 1,000 m in Ecuador and 1,200 m in Peru.

Diet

Feeds primarily on insects, usually foraging in pairs. It perches in the forest canopy and takes prey at all levels with short sallies to glean from vegetation and sometimes the ground.

Did you know?

Despite being a wild bird, its nests are exclusively constructed within cavities in human structures. The species is named after Spencer Fullerton Baird, a 19th-century naturalist who served as the first curator and later Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.