Social flycatcher
The social flycatcher is a passerine bird from the Americas, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country, and every mainland South American country except Chile, Guyana, Suriname, and Uruguay. It has also occurred as a vagrant in the United States.
Taxonomy and systematics
The social flycatcher was originally described in 1825 as Muscicapa similis, mistakenly placing it in the Old World flycatcher family.The social flycatcher has these seven subspecies:
- M. s. primulus Van Rossem, 1930
- M. s. hesperis Phillips, AR, 1966
- M. s. texensis
- M. s. columbianus Cabanis & Heine, 1860
- M. s. similis
- M. s. grandis Lawrence, 1871
- M. s. pallidiventris Pinto, 1935
The social flycatcher's specific epithet similis is from the Latin similis or simile meaning "similar" or "resembling". The species closely resembles several other flycatchers including the congeneric rusty-margined flycatcher, the great and lesser kiskadees, and the three-striped flycatcher.
Description
The social flycatcher is long and weighs. The sexes have the same plumage, though females average slightly smaller than males. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. s. similis have a dark gray to brownish gray head with a mostly hidden bright red to orangish red patch in the center of the crown. They have a wide white supercilium that begins on the forehead and extends far past the eye. Their upperparts are mostly dull olive-green to brownish olive with a somewhat more grayish olive hindneck and grayish brown or grayish olive uppertail coverts. Their wings are deep grayish brown with pale grayish white edges on the inner secondaries and pale olivaceous edges on the rest of the flight feathers. Their wing coverts are olive to brownish olive with grayish white edges that sometimes show as two faint wing bars. Their tail is deep grayish brown with pale olive edges on the feathers. Their chin and throat are white to yellowish white and their underparts are bright yellow. Juveniles are similar to adults but with little or no red on the crown and wider rufous edges on the wing and tail feathers.The other subspecies of the social flycatcher are much like the nominate, mostly differing slightly in the tone of the crown patch and edges of the wing feathers. In addition, M. s. grandis is larger than the nominate with wider and paler edges on the wing coverts and slightly brighter underparts. M. s. columbianus is the smallest subspecies; its crown is lighter gray than the nominate's with paler edges on the wing coverts and brighter and deeper yellow underparts. All subspecies have a brown iris, a stubby black bill, and black legs and feet.
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the social flycatcher are found thus:- M. s. primulus: western Mexico from southern Sonora south to northern Sinaloa
- M. s. hesperis: western Mexico from central Sinaloa and southern Zacatecas east to southwestern Puebla and south to southeastern Oaxaca and perhaps beyond
- M. s. texensis: from southwestern Tamaulipas in eastern Mexico south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua into most of Costa Rica
- M. s. columbianus: from southwestern Costa Rica south through Panama into northern Colombia and northern Venezuela; in Colombia coastal and south through the Magdalena River valley to Huila Department and in Venezuela east to Sucre and south to northern Amazonas and northern Bolívar states
- M. s. similis: from Colombia east of the Eastern Andes across Amazonas and southern Bolívar in Venezuela into French Guiana and south through eastern Ecuador, northeastern and eastern Peru, much of Amazonian Brazil, and northern Bolivia
- M. s. grandis: from western Esmeraldas Province in western Ecuador south slightly into far northwestern Peru's Tumbes Department
- M. s. pallidiventris: eastern Brazil roughly bounded by eastern Pará, Paraíba, northern Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso do Sul continuing into eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province
The social flycatcher inhabits a variety of moist to semi-arid landscapes in the tropical and lower subtropical zones, most of which are somewhat open. These include lowlands with scattered bushes and trees; secondary forest; the canopy, edges, and shrubby openings in primary forest and woodlands; the margins of lakes and rivers such as gallery forest; agricultural and pasture lands' and gardens and parks in residential areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level mostly to about in Mexico and Central America but reaches in Costa Rica. It ranges up to in Colombia, to north of the Orinoco River and to south of it in Venezuela, to in Ecuador, to in Peru, and to and occasionally higher in Brazil.
Behavior
Movement
The social flycatcher is a year-round resident in most of its range though its movements in some areas are poorly understood. The populations in Argentina and southernmost Brazil appear to move north for the austral winter. In western Venezuela it occurs in the Llanos only in the dry season of June to October. It also appears to be partially or fully migratory in eastern and southern Venezuela.Feeding
The social flycatcher feeds mostly on insects and also includes a significant amount of berries, fruits, and seeds in its diet. There are records of feeding on tadpoles. It most often forages in pairs and, for a time after the breeding season, in family groups. Outside the breeding season large numbers may share a fruiting tree. It rarely joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It perches in the open on a treetop or on the edge of vegetation at all levels from near the ground to the canopy of trees but most often at middle levels. It takes prey with sallies from the perch to the ground or vegetation and also takes it in mid-air by hawking. It takes fruit while perched or while briefly hovering.The social flycatcher has been observed foraging peacefully near common marmosets in the undergrowth, maybe even cooperating with the monkeys in flushing prey from hiding. Perhaps this behavior only occurs during the dry season, when fruits are scarce.