The
northern tufted flycatcher or simply
tufted flycatcher (
Mitrephanes phaeocercus) is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is found from Mexico to Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics: The northern tufted flycatcher was originally described as
Mitrephorus phaeocercus. It was later determined that genus
Mitrephorus already "belonged" to other taxa so by the principle of priority genus
Mitrephanes was erected for it.
The northern tufted flycatcher´s further taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy recognize these four subspecies:
- M. p. tenuirostris Brewster, 1888
- M. p. phaeocercus (Sclater, PL, 1859)
- M. p. aurantiiventris (Lawrence, 1865)
- M. p. berlepschi Hartert, EJO, 1902
BirdLife International´s
Handbook of the Birds of the World adds a fifth,
M. p. eminulus, that the IOC and Clements include within
M. p. berlepschi. Three other subspecies have been proposed but all three of those taxonomic systems include them within the IOC/Clements four subspecies.
What is now the olive tufted flycatcher (
M. olivaceus) of Peru and Bolivia was previously treated as a subspecies of the northern tufted flycatcher. The northern tufted and olive tufted flycatchers are the only species in genus
Mitrephanes.
This article follows the four-subspecies model.
The northern tufted flycatcher is 12 to long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage and all subspecies have an erect pointed crest. Adults of the nominate subspecies
M. p. phaeocercus have a brown-tinged olive crown, a pale spot above the lores, and a thin buff-white eye-ring on an otherwise cinnamon face. Their upperparts are brownish with an olive tinge. Their wings are dusky with buff ends on the coverts that show as two wing bars. They have whitish or pale yellow edges on their tertials. Their tail is dusky. Their throat and breast are bright ochre to cinnamon and their belly ochre-yellow. They have a dark iris, a black maxilla, an orange-yellow mandible, and blackish legs and feet. Juveniles have a dark brown crown with cinnamon-buff edges on its feathers and those of their upperparts.
Subspecies
M. p. tenuirostris is paler and duller than the nominate.
M. p. berlepschi has a darker olive crown than the nominate, with yellowish lores, an olive back and breast, olive wing bars, and a bright yellow belly.
M. p. aurantiiventris is intermediate between the nominate and
berlepschi, with medium olive upperparts and underparts tending more ochre than cinnamon.
Distribution and habitat: The subspecies of the northern tufted flycatcher are found thus:
- M. p. tenuirostris: western Mexico from southeastern Sonora and southwestern Chihuahua south to western Jalisco
- M. p. phaeocercus: mountains of eastern and central Mexico from the latitude of Zacatecas south through Guatemala, northern El Salvador, and Honduras into far northeastern Nicaragua
- M. p. aurantiiventris: from Costa Rica´s central Alajuela Province east through Panama into the Serranía del Darién short of the Colombian border
- M. p. berlepschi: from extreme eastern Panama south through western Colombia slightly into northwestern Ecuador´s Esmeraldas and Carchi provinces
The northern tufted flycatcher has also been observed as a vagrant in Texas and Arizona.
The northern tufted flycatcher inhabits a variety of wooded montane landscapes in the upper tropical to lower temperate zones. These including pine, pine-oak, evergreen, and secondary forests and also more open areas and gallery forest. It tends to favor the forest edges and gaps and clearings within it. In elevation if ranges between 1200 and in northern Central America, between 500 and in Costa Rica, from near sea level to 1200 m in Colombia, and between 100 and in Ecuador.
Movement: The northern tufted flycatcher is mostly a year-round resident. It makes some elevational migration in Mexico.
Feeding: The northern tufted flycatcher feeds on insects. It typically forages singly or in pairs at any level of the forest but primarily at its mid-level. It sits upright on a perch and captures prey in mid-air with sallies from it ("hawking"). It often returns to the same perch, and usually "shivers" its wings and tail when landing. It does not join mixed-species feeding flocks.
Breeding: The northern tufted flycatcher breeds between April and June in Costa Rica and its season includes February in Colombia. Its breeding season elsewhere has not been defined. Its nest is an open cup made from moss, liverworts and lichens lined with softer material. Nests have been found between about 4 and above the ground, sometimes in the saddle of dangling vines and sometimes hidden in epiphytes on a tree branch. The clutch is two eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.
Vocalization: The northern tufted flycatcher´s dawn song is "a rapid series of high notes
bip-bip-bip-dididi-up-bip-bip-bibibiseer". It also sings "single or repeated
tchwee or
turee notes" and in the breeding season "
seeeu or
seer". Its call is
pik or
beek".
Status: The IUCN has assessed the northern tufted flycatcher as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range; its estimated population of at least 500,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered "fairly common" in northern Central America, "common" in Costa Rica, and "locally common" in Colombia. It occurs in two national parks in Costa Rica.