The boat-billed flycatcher (''Megarynchus pitangua'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. It is a large tyrant flycatcher, the only member of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''

Megarynchus ''Megarynchus'' is a genus of bird in the family '' Tyrannidae'' (the tyrant flycatchers). It is currently considered to be a monotypic genus. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species * Boat-billed flycatcher (''Megarynchus pitangua'') Former ...

''. It breeds in open woodland with some tall trees from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

south to

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and

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, and through to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. The nest, built by the female, is an open saucer of sticks. The typical clutch is two or three whitish eggs heavily blotched with brown. These are incubated mostly by the female for 17–18 days with a further 24 days to fledging.

Description

Adult boat-billed flycatchers are one of the largest species of tyrant flycatcher, measuring long and weighing . The head is black with a strong white eyestripe and a concealed yellow crown stripe. The upperparts are olive-brown, and the wings and tail are brown with only faint rufous fringes. The underparts are yellow and the throat is white. The massive black bill, which gives this species its

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

names, is the best distinction from the similar great kiskadee, which also has more rufous tail and wings, and lacks the olive tone to the upperparts. The call is a strident trilled ''nya, nya, nya''.

Diet

Boat-billed flycatchers wait on a concealed perch high in a tree and sally out to catch

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s (such as cicadas)https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Megarynchus_pitangua%20-%20Boat-billed%20Flycatcher.pdf in flight. They will also take

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s off the foliage and eat some

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(of the genera ''

Cissus ''Cissus'' is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas (Woody plant, woody vines) in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. Uses Medicinal ''Cissus quadrang ...

'' and ''

Miconia ''Miconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall. The generic name ...

''), small wild

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

s and dry green fruits of '' Cecropia''.

References

External links

* * * * boat-billed flycatcher Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of the Guianas Birds of the Cerrado Birds of the Caatinga Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Trinidad and Tobago Birds of Central America Birds of South America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Neotropics boat-billed flycatcher boat-billed flycatcher

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Description

Diet

References

Further reading

External links