Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Description:

Adult birds have pale gray heads and upper parts, light underparts, salmon-pink flanks, and dark gray wings. Their extremely long, forked tails, which are black on top and white on the underside, are characteristic and unmistakable.

Habitat:

They build a cup nest in isolated trees or shrubs, sometimes using artificial sites such as telephone poles near towns. The male performs a spectacular aerial display during courtship with his long tail forks streaming out behind him. In the summer, Scissor-tailed flycatchers feed mainly on insects (grasshoppers, robber-flies, and dragonflies), which they may catch by waiting on a perch and then flying out to catch them in flight (hawking).

Notes:

The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and the swallowtailed flycatcher) is a long-tailed insectivorous (insect-eating) bird of the genus Tyrannus , whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. The kingbirds are a group of large insectivorous birds in the tyrant flycatcher (Tyrannidae) family.