Northern Royal Flycatcher

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Northern Royal Flycatcher
A male displaying the crest.
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Tyrannidae Genus: Onychorhynchus Species: O. mexicanus
Binomial name
Onychorhynchus mexicanus (Sclater, 1857)
Synonyms
Onychorhynchus coronatus mexicanus

The Northern Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus mexicanus) is a species of bird in the Tyrannidae family. It is, together with O. occidentalis and O. swainsoni, often considered a subspecies of O. coronatus.

It is found in Mexico, south through most of Central America, to north-western Colombia and far western Venezuela Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

[edit] Description

The Northern Royal Flycatcher is 16.5-18 cm (6½-7") long, brown above small buffy spots on its wing-coverts; the rump and tail are tawny-ochraceous in colour. The bill is long and broad.

The Royal Flycatcher has an erectile fan-shaped crest, coloured red in the male and yellow-orange in the female. The display with the crest fully raised is seen extremely rarely, except during banding sessions.

The Northern Royal Flycatcher is usually inconspicious and quiet, but sometimes gives a repeated sharp clear pree-o or key-up, sounding rather like a Manacus manakin or a jacamar.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2004). Onychorhynchus coronatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Robert S. Ridgely and John A. Gwynne, Jr., Birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, Princeton University Press, 1999
• BirdLife International 2004. Onychorhynchus mexicanus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 26 July 2007.