Vermilion Flycatcher

Description:

Small flycatcher. Male has bright red or red-orange head and underparts. Female is dull grayish brown above, with pale red under the tail and a streaked whitish chest.

Habitat:

Scrub, desert, cultivated lands, and riparian woodlands.

Notes:

The breeding male Vermilion Flycatcher spends about 90 percent of the day perched. Twelve subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher are recognized, including a race with a dark morph that ranges from western Peru to northern Chile. Both male and female of this morph are dark all over, with some males having a few red feathers on the head, and some females having a pinkish wash under the tail. About half of the Vermilion Flycatchers in Lima, Peru are the dark morph, but the proportion decreases as one goes further southward. The male Vermilion Flycatcher often seeks to initiate copulation by delivering a butterfly or other showy insect to the female.