Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus)
Tyrant Flycatcher Family (Tyrannidae)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is a gray and salmon-pink bird with a very deeply-forked black and white tail, reaching about 14” in length, more than half of which is the tail. Has pearly gray upperparts, pale gray head and breast, dark gray wings, salmon-pink flanks, and pale pinkish underparts. The male has a longer tail. Female duller. Juveniles similar to adult, but with a shorter tail, duller upperparts, browner wings, and only a hint of pink on the side of the breast. Breeds from April through August. Normally lays 3-6 eggs per clutch, which are creamy, brown-spotted. The nest is bulky cup-shaped and made from plant stems and string, lined with finer plant materials, usually in an isolated tree or large shrub. Song a repeated series of bik notes interspersed with perleep or peroo notes. Call is a sharp bik or pup or a harsh kee-kee-kee-kee; also a chatter. Can be aggressive, chasing hawks, crows, etc. away. It is a neotropical migratory bird with breeding populations found in the south-central United States. Most migrate to southern Florida, Mexico, and Central America for the winter. Found in open grasslands with occasional trees and shrubs, roadsides, chaparral, ranches, agricultural areas, and towns. Often seen perched on utility wires and fences. It eats mostly insects, especially grasshoppers, robber-flies, dragonflies, and beetles, by capturing them by aerial hawking (catching them in flight) mostly and by grabbing them off of vegetation. The state bird of Oklahoma. Also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and the swallow-tailed flycatcher. Formally known as Muscivora forficata.
Listed as rare in TN.
