This gallery has been updated (August 10, 2010) to include a family of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers (STF). Note the nesting material which is typical for STF in the use of man made materials.

This series of photographs were taken in the spring of 2008 at a location along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast, or UTC. The photos are of a pair of Scissor-tailed flycatchers. Inquiries for high resolution 300 DPI photos as non-exclusive royalty-free purchases may be made by adding a private comment of the photo you wish to purchase.

The two scissortails shown are both males. The length of the tail of each bird greatly exceeds the length of the remainder of the body, including the head.
Only on males is the white on the next-to-the-outermost tail feather (R5) not covered completely by the dark brown/black of the previous tail feather (R4) when the tail is closed. It is the exposure of the white on R5 (and correspondingly R6) that causes the significant wear of the barbs in that region on those feathers and the eventual formation of the black or dark-brown teardrop at the tip of those feathers that we see in summer. Females show no white on the top of the tail when the tail is closed, and their tails usually show less wear. Even though the tail of each bird in these photos is spread in all or nearly all photos, a gap between the dark end of R4 and the beginning of the dark end of R5 can be detected if you picture in your mind the positions of those feathers when the tail is closed.

Scissortails are a social species throughout most, if not the entire, year, except in the immediate areas where the nests are built. Here each pair defends its territory. Males vary in their tolerance of other males during the breeding season usually depending on whether the males are on, or away from, nesting territories. Presently, many scissortails are still migrating, and even during the spring many form communal roosts. These males look as though they are antagonistic, vocalizing to each other, displaying the brilliant scarlet of the axillary feathers and surrounding body feathers and finally fighting head-on, one dislodging the other from its perch.

The scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) is one of the several flycatchers, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise. The Scissor-tailed is so named because the longer outer tail feathers split during flight (Regosin 1998). It is also known as Texas bird-of-paradise and swallowtailed flycatcher (NPWRC 1997). Both males and females are alike in color. The upper body is light grey with underparts being whitish with salmon pink sides, flanks, and undertail coverts. Scissortails legs are black (Regosin 1998, Scott 1987). The male’s tail is somewhat longer than the female’s.
There is almost no mistaking the scissor-tailed flycatcher. The male’s nine-inch-long tail and the female’s slightly shorter one proclaim their identity whether seen in good light or in silhouette, flying or perched. Except for the fork-tailed flycatcher of the American tropics (an extremely rare vagrant north of the Mexican border), no other North American bird has such a long, narrow tail compared with its body size.

Pale gray is the scissortail’s predominant color, approaching white on the face and breast. The wings are blackish, the tail black and white. Scarlet “armpits” are mostly concealed while the bird is perched, and a scarlet crown patch is almost always hidden. The flanks and belly are flushed salmon pink, which can vary in brightness from individual to individual.

The migratory scissor-tailed flycatcher breeds from extreme northeastern Mexico (generally within a short distance of the Texas border) north through southeastern New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, extreme southeastern Colorado, most of Kansas, western Missouri, Arkansas, and much of western and northern Louisiana.
Credits: Birdwatcher’s Digest; Bruce H. AndersonWinter Park, Orange Co., Florida
scizortail@aol.com