Swainson's Flycatcher Myiarchus swainsoni

Swainson's Flycatcher Myiarchus swainsoni

Brazilian name: irré

Parque de Zizo, São Paulo, Brazil
November 2006

Swainson's Flycatcher breeds in the Amazon Basin and in the remainder of Brazil as well as Uruguay, eastern Bolivia and northern Argentina. In the austral winter southern populations migrate either to the Amazon Basin (M. s. ferocior) or to northern South America (M. s. swainsoni). They are found in a variety of forested and wooded habitats.

It is probably the dullest of its genus and, like other Myiarchus flycatchers it tends to perch more horizontally than vertically. It is olive-brown above with whitish wing-bars. The throat and breast are white to pale grey while the belly is pale yellow.

The bill is pale brown to pinkish at the base of the lower mandible while the upper mandible is dark except in the case of sub-species M. s. phaeonotos resident in south-east Venezuela and neighbouring Brazil and Guyana where the bill is all black. The iris is dark (note that the illustration on Plate 205 of Restall et al. shows the iris to be red. I presume that this is an error).

Recordings can be found on xeno-canto.

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