Pink-backed Pelican

Medium-sized Myiarchus flycatcher very similar to Ash-throated Flycatcher of western North America but slightly brighter overall, with bushier crest and browner face. Best identified by voice. Ash-throated is a winter migrant throughout much of Nutting’s range. One form of Nutting’s occurs in arid scrub and oak woods of lowlands and foothills; its commonest calls are a loud “wheek” and bickering “kwidik-kwidik.” A second form of Nutting’s (“Ridgway’s Flycatcher”) occurs in hedges and semiopen country in lowlands from Chiapas south to Central America; its commonest calls are “wh’beer” and “dee-dee-dee-dee.”

Unique-looking flycatcher with a gleamingly clean white throat and a strong rusty orange tinge to the brow and forehead. Overlaps with closely related White-gorgeted Flycatcher but lacks that species’s gray face and black border to the white throat patch. Inhabits foothill and montane forests, where it forages close to the ground in lower vegetation. Both flycatches and gleans for prey more actively. Song is a high, thin series of whistles; a simple version is “tee-tee-tew’, to which additional phrases may be added. Vocal for a flycatcher, and calls often, giving harsh rattles, chips and chiks, and high thin notes.

This handsome little flycatcher has the endearing habit of fanning its tail and flicking its wings when agitated. The male’s long slender white eyebrows and orange breast make him unmistakable; wintering male Mugimaki Flycatchers may cause some confusion, but that species has a smaller, block-like eyebrow patch and a broader, shorter white wing patch. Females are brown above and whitish below with an orange chest and rufous tail; her combination of plain brown wings, warm-toned tail, and a fairly uniform head pattern separate her from female Snowy-browed and Mugimaki Flycatchers. Female “blue flycatchers” can be similar, but they are more slender and have proportionally longer bills. Found in foothill and montane forests, where it forages in dense low thickets, typically singly or in pairs. Song is a brief 3–4-note phrase of very high, thin notes: “tsee-a-tsee-tsee”, or “tsee-ah-tsee”.