Myiarchus nuttingi
SUBFAMILY
Tyranninae
TAXONOMY
Myiarchus nuttingi Ridgway, 1882. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Pale-throated flycatcher; French: Tyran de Nutting;
German: Blasskehltyrann; Spanish: Atrapamoscas de Nutting.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
7.25 in (18.5 cm). Plumage includes a dark gray crown (sometimes
with a tinge of cinnamon), olive-brown upperparts, two
white wingbars, wing coverts and secondaries edged with
white, cinnamon-edged primaries, dusky central tail feathers,
yellow belly and undertail coverts, and pale gray throat and
breast. Interior of mouth is orange. Sexes are similar. Almost
identical in appearance to ash-throated flycatcher (Myiarchus
cinerascens); distinguishable in the field only by song.
DISTRIBUTION
Western Mexico to western Costa Rica; accidental to southeastern
Arizona.
HABITAT
Prefers semiarid deciduous slopes and thorny thickets.
BEHAVIOR
Lives singly or in pairs. Nonmigratory. Song is a quick, loud,
chattering “wheep! wheep!”, in addition to a repeated “ki didi-
dir!”
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats insects and some berries. Most often snatches prey from
foliage while hovering; also hawks prey in midair and returns
to perch.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous. Nest is built by both sexes in a preformed burrow
and lined with grasses, rootlets, weeds, and feathers. Female
incubates one to two clutches of three to five eggs per
year for 14 days. Young are fed by both parents and fledge at
14 to 16 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
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