Brown-Crested Flycatcher

Myiarchus tyrannulus

The Brown-Crested Flycatcher ranges all year from both mainland coasts south through South America into northern Argentina. They are most often found among giant-cactus and riparian habitats, where natural cavities and abandoned woodpecker holes of substantial size are more available for nest sites.

In late spring some of these birds will migrate north into Arizona and southern Texas.

Taxonomists call out seven subspecies of Brown-Crested Flycatcher:

• Arizona Group
  • M. t. magister lives in southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, most of Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and western Mexico south to Oaxaca, and Tres Marías Island.
• Cooper Group
  • M. t. cooperi lives in south Texas and eastern Mexico south to Oaxaca and Quintana Roo, and in Central America in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
  • M. t. cozumelae lives on Cozumel Island (Mexico)
  • M. t. insularum lives on the Bay Islands, off Honduras.
• Ometepe Group
  • M. t. brachyurus lives in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
• South American Group
  • M. t. tyrannulus lives in Colombia, Venezuela, Leeward Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, the Guianas and the lower Amazon, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
  • M. t. bahiae lives in the lower Amazon Basin, and south through eastern Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina.

I’ve only met one individual member of this species while I visited Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, north of Tucson (Arizona). To anyone visiting the region, I highly recommend a visit to this reserve nestled at the foot of the Catalina Mountains. Depending on the season, a generous variety of bird species will spend time there.