It’s that special day where we get extra cuddles from the one(s) we love. Based on the fact we are down in the single digit temperatures, that may be less of a personal display of affection and more about stealing heat ha. I gave it away in the previous post that I was going to go with a Valentine’s theme in recognition of the special day. Minimally one a bit more in line with the day than the nevermore Rook connotations in Brad’s recent adventure. There were some (read brother) that had speculated a bird couple story, which immediately brought to mind the always cute Inca Doves (link here) or the smooching we saw between pairs in the mass of Parrots at Oliviera Park in Brownsville, TX. Truth is, I am nowhere close to getting those Parrot pictures processed (it was less than a month ago!!) and not that clever. In my defense, Incas have a cooing that sounds like “NO HOPE” which isn’t what you want to think about on a relationship holiday. I was really just going for a bird with a Valentine’s color palette.
Hit the jump to see more shots from this brilliantly red colored bird.
Those that have already encountered this bird immediately know it is a Vermilion Flycatcher – a male one to be specific. This bird is just plain stunning and the dainty features just accentuate the overall cuteness. Note, this admiration is likely not shared by any insect in its vicinity.
The other reason I wanted to spotlight this feathered friend is it happens to be Linda’s favorite bird. Linda is a bit of a bird hmmm, how should I put this lightly and not cost me points on this special day..maybe.. snob…no wait, elitist, no, no, how about we just go with discerning, yeah, that sounds much more acceptable. This isn’t a secret, she proudly displays this behavior whenever we are out birding and brings along here camera.
In her defense, she specializes in landscape photography and dog agility portraits/events. We do try to stay out of each other’s lanes as one of us has been accused of being too competitive (to every fiber of being). Our friendly UB competitions always got a bit ugly when Linda submitted BIRD pictures for the local photography competitions (link here, here, here and here). She did it again in the last competition we entered and she BEAT me again. Judges, we need a word.
Back to point (I feel a glare coming from behind me). Linda ONLY takes pictures of what she calls “pretty” birds. If a particular specimen does not try to impress her with dazzling beauty, her camera isn’t getting anywhere close to her eye. Safe to assume there isn’t a single picture of a Sparrow in her lifetime body of work. To properly set the litmus for attention, you need to be at Green Jay (link here) or Altamira Oriole (link here) level to even be in consideration.
Our little red flame today obviously makes it into that rare air. Linda never passes up an opportunity to tin these Flycatchers and I do not fault her one bit on that – these Flycatchers are far better in person than they appear on print. I feel like I need to amp the red hues up a bit to match the field perspective, but I try to really limit my use of that digital darkroom technique – not a big fan of the over-saturated images I’ve been seeing, especially the ones that make it into the Cornell ID reference section.
I’ll throw in a few more picks of the mature males before I move onto a younger one.
We usually encounter a few of these Vermilions while on our Texas jaunt, spaced sporadically on our many birding locations down there. One is usually found around the visitor center at Anahuac NWR, one or two will be hunting the ponds in Santa Ana NWR and we even found one in the Brownsville cemetery on our recent trip. 3-4 tops for the January trip. I was not expecting the incredible amount of encounters on our Arizona trip this previous January – when all of these images were taken.
They were everywhere we went and most of the time far more than one at any given location. I thought Linda was going to get tendinitis in here trigger finger. I still have plenty of shots I left in the queue so there will be a part II sometime in the future. If you are curious, this post features shots from Bensen STP and several locations near Tucson including Reid Park, Sycamore Trail and at the golf course attached to Voyager RV – they had a Brewer’s Blackbird over there I needed to get checked off).
Okay, now time for Linda to put the camera down as I wanted to show you an immature male. I still think they are cute, but Linda doesn’t feel it meets her criteria. Where the adults have a very crisp differentiation between their black and brilliant red feathering, the young males take on more of a browner hue with splotches of color – I find them to be more orange tinted than red, but you can make that determination for yourself.
It’s the transitioning head feathers I like the best. Those little slivers of color remind me of giant Hummingbirds catching the light just right. Almost like they are catching fire in homage to the Ghost Rider. Just learned their genus name Pyrocephalus translates to “fire-head” – so there you go although I prefer Ghostusriderus.
I should point out that the females can be distinguished by their subdued coloring. The adult females sport a browner upper feathering and have a white neck/belly with faint streaking that transitions into a light reddish coloring to the tail (peach if you will). The immature females are similar to adult females, however, their coloring is more of a faded peach to practically yellowish. The females never take on the brilliant reds of the male.
Nearing the end, time to get to some interesting tidbits on this diminutive bird. At around 5 inches long, you will probably need to get fairly close to detailed look at their features. The reds of the male can be seen easily, but they look like a fishing bobber if you don’t get close enough to pick out the appendages. My experience is they are pretty accommodating to being approached. Like all Flycatchers, they’ll take quick bursts of flight to nab an insect, but will usually return to almost the same spot where they’ll start scanning the sky for dessert. Full of expression, they’ll tilt their head from side to side, up and down and all around as they choose their victims.
They are a southern US and down into Central America specialty, meaning you will have to do a bit of traveling if you are not in the area. Very little migration for breeding, pushing up just a bit north and choosing to mostly stay put year round with a few trips along the Gulf of America (now that is a first for Intrigued) to enjoy a Florida coast getaway. In a true Valentine’s Day tribute, the male Flycatchers are known to bring a heart shaped box filled with “flashy” insects/butterflies to woo their girlfriends over (a loose approximation per Cornell) hopefully earning them a nice long smoochie.
Take care everyone, have a wonderful time with the one(s) you love and hope you enjoyed this bird tribute to VDay!
Life Intrigued 