Fork-tailed Flycatcher Gallery

Tyrannus savana

The Birds of the World website offers these introductory words about the Fork-tailed Flycatcher:  Fork-tailed Flycatcher is a distinctive inhabitant of grassland and open terrain from southern Mexico south to Argentina. Fork-tailed Flycatcher is mostly black and gray above with white underparts, and, as the name implies, has an extremely long forked tail. This flycatcher, which is a member of the kingbird genus Tyrannus, often perches prominently on the top of fence posts or shrubs; from such conspicuous perches, the flycatcher sallies after insects or hover-gleans to feed on fruit. The southernmost populations are migratory while populations in southern Mexico are resident. During migration Fork-tailed Flycatchers are very gregarious and may roost in flocks of up to 10,000 individuals.

I saw and photographed my first Fork-tailed Flycatcher on the morning of August 18, 2023 in the Amazon Basin Region of Brazil.  Our small group with Jeff Parker Tours had been in an observation tower at a private fazenda in the Amazon Basin watching a Harpy Eagle nest.   When we were returning to the ranch house for lunch, we spotted a Forked-tailed Flycather sitting on one of the fence lines. For a more detailed description of this day, look here at my blog post on my Brazil trip.  Here is a photo I took of this striking bird.  My photo is not the best, because it was taken through the front window glass of our van.