We are inching closer and closer to the official date of my favorite holiday of the year. Although our huge 2-day celebration of the black and orange comes earlier (typically a month earlier), we still enjoy the national day of spook. Being rural we do not get any trick-or-treaters as the effort to go door to door far outweighs the reward. The traditional candy stalkers have gotten soft choosing to drop into the nice neighborhoods with full bar handouts or the drive through trick-or-trunk options at the local malls. Halloween is the night we jump into the car and seek out all the local displays to assess and get ideas for next year’s haunted trail. Fills our hearts to see so many houses still resisting the encroachment of corporate Christmas and keeping the scare tradition alive and well. In honor of October’s special day, thought I would feature a feathered friend that sports a touch of those traditional Halloween colors.
Hit the jump to see a few more images of this flamboyantly tailed Flycatcher.
Today’s feature holds a special place on my checklist as it was in my first group of “chase” birds – for our international friends, “twitching”. A lot has been written about the difference between birding and birdwatching (reminds me of the words wasted on distinguishing jogging from running), but the degree of pursuit is often the distinction (link here). My first ever official rarity hunt was back in 2015 for the Swallow-Tailed Kite that showed up at my Alma Mater (link here). Clearly I am a sucker for well-tailed birds ha.
Back in 2021 we were alerted to a rarity that was hanging out at an electrical substation about an hour away in Havana, IL. That rarity was the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher – the exact same species being featured today. I remember standing in absolute awe as that specimen glided between the trees and a large chain link fence (link here). I had no idea we had access to such a beautiful bird in the US, much less relatively speaking in my backyard! I had transitioned to a “birder” and well, never looked back. So many years later I still enjoying traveling to see new birds and always sport a big smile when we encountering those beauties that got my journey started.
Although a rarity to Illinois, the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher is a regular migrant to our adopted state of Texas. These flowy tailed specimens spend their winters in the central to southern regions of Central America. They migrate northward into Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and even into Nebraska and Missouri. They also have a pension to get lost and randomly show up in many other states (just like it did in Illinois). If you switch to the Sightings Map on Cornell you will see reports in every state in the US and even up into Canada.
Typically on our January trips to Texas we are a bit early for their migration, however, last year we swapped our trips and went to Arizona to get away from the white fluffy stuff (well, that was the intention) which meant we were in Texas for Spring giving us multiple opportunities to enjoy these beautiful birds. This particular series was taken on the levee at the back of Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, TX. If you have spent any time at Intrigued you are well aware of this spot as we often bring you finds from my absolute favorite birding destination. On this day I spent hours trying to get the specimen(s) in flight in order to show off their incredible tails.
A pair of Scissors were hanging out in the trees near the water line and doing what Flycatchers do – launch off a branch, snatch an unsuspecting victim from the air and return back near the starting point. This predictability is a tremendous help for us photographers as we get opportunity after opportunity to attempt to get these highly acrobatic birds in the tin. Although further away than I would have liked to have been, managed to get some decent shots with the tail in its full glory. While looking at the shots in the digital darkroom, clearly the bird(s) were proud of their unique and functional tail feathers.
Those elongated features allow this Flycatcher increased maneuverability on the wing – assuredly much to the disgust of their prey. In addition to those amazing tail feathers, these flight shots also give you a good look at their orangy (some would same salmon-pink) underwing highlights that extend down onto the flanks. There is a brighter patch just under the wing that is also noticeable from the top which I will show you just a bit.
The males and females look similar in these species so unable to distinguish the sexes of the two specimens – based on their behavior, guessing they were mates as this species does not like intruders in their nesting spots and will quickly attack anything they deem are encroaching on their turf. They may look pretty, but they will not hesitate to throw down on Hawks, Mocks and Shrikes etc. should one not respect the tail ha.
In the shot above, you can just make out the brighter underwing patch at the shoulder edges – I do have a better shot of that coming, but wanted to point that out while I was here.
There are 33 New World Flycatchers in the Tyrannidae family and I am proud to say I have 28 of those checked off my life list. I need to check with Brad to see what our “Intrigued” coverage is, but as of now I am only missing the Buff-Breasted FC, Brown-Crested FC, Sulphur-Bellied FC, and two Kingbirds – Thick-Billed and Gray.
As a whole, the Tyrannidae family is both wildly diverse and yet similar at the same time. Birders are well aware of the nightmare that can confront them when trying to identify the multitude of similarly adorned gray/olive feathered members, yet there are some with brilliant coloring like the Vermilion and Great Kiskadee that are immediately identified. Although similarly colored to the female Vermilion, the Scissor-tailed is the only one in the family with the fancy butt cover. Note, there is a Forked-Tailed Flycatcher that shows up from time to time in the States, but that is not officially identified by the ABA. It has a similarly long tail, but honestly, the coloring and shape pales to our resident – it kind of reminds me of an Eastern Kingbird with a much longer and, surprise, forked tail.
For those traveling in the South Padre Island area, another really good place to find the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher is behind the SPI Convention Center. In the spring, if you take the free Laguna Madre Trail right next to the convention center you will usually spot multiple specimens hunting the area behind the center (look towards the direction of the convention center flats).
As mentioned, I wish I could have gotten a little closer to these two Scissors in order to bring you better detailed shots. I also ended up keeping the buildings in the background and guessing my fellow photographers probably noticed the powerlines in the background of some of these shots. There was just something about the delicate looking birds against the Mesquite trees and undustrialish horizon that appealed to me… and the forked limbs perched by two highly forked tailed- birds.
Saw the shot above and immediately thought that insect was about to experience a very bad day ha! Not a lot goes unnoticed by a Flycatcher.
Now for that shot that shows the underwing patches from the top better. You can definitely see that orange/red coloring at the top and bottom of the shoulder. Take a bow Scissor, you earned it!
This final shot is soft, but turns out the only one in the series that showed the top of the wings in flight. Would have been nice had it fully expanded its tail at the same time – reminds me of angels with those beautiful outstretched wings.
Hope you enjoyed these images of an absolute stunner of a Flycatcher. The local rarity came back to Havana for the following year with a mate, but has not been seen since. Fortunately, we have the opportunity from time to time to encounter these birds on our southern travels. Now to get to work on getting those five remaining Flycatchers checked off the list.
Take care, hope you are getting your costumes all ready for the big night!
Life Intrigued 