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Royal Flycatcher | Fun Facts About These Beautiful Birds
These bright royal looking birds are best known for the crest on their heads and this crest is used during mating time. The Royal Flycatcher bird is named for the crest on their royal looking head. Royal Flycatchers hang their nests from vines above the water which makes it difficult for predators to steal the eggs and babies of these birds.
Royal Flycatchers communicate with each other by making low whistles and prefer to eat flying insects like cicadas and moths. Some research suggests that the crest on the head of these birds can startle predators or scare them for a moment. Let's know more about the behavior, life, bird nests and characteristics of these birds.
Where Are Royal Flycatcher Found
Royal Flycatchers These birds can be seen in their natural habitat area in the Amazon Basin. The range of these birds extends from northern and western Brazil, northern Bolivia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, Venezuela, Guyana and eastern Colombia. Royal Flycatcher means bird with brightly coloured crest.
The genus Onychorhynchus includes this royal flycatcher. There are four royal flycatchers in this genus and they rarely display their colorful blue, black, yellow and red crest. Royal flycatchers display their head crest during courtship, after mating, while hunting. There are two subspecies of royal flycatchers known as Statius Muller, and O. c. castellanoui.
Royal flycatchers are spread across the Amazon basin for which they are named. The Tityridae family has 45 species with 11 genera. The birds of this family are small to medium sized. George Robert Gray, an English physiologist, introduced this family and the existence of this family was first proposed in 1989.
Scientific Name Of Royal Flycatcher
The scientific name of the Royal Flycatcher bird is Onychorhynchus coronatus and Royal Flycatchers are also identified as Amazonian Royal Flycatchers. Royal Flycatchers are named so because of their royal looking colorful crest and their ability to catch insects in the air.
The term Amazonian for Royal Flycatchers refers to the geographical location where these birds are found which is the Amazon Basin. In the Amazon Basin, these magnificent birds can be found in northern and western Brazil, northern Bolivia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, Venezuela, Guyana and eastern Colombia.
Habitat Of Royal Flycatcher
Royal Flycatchers prefer to make their habitat in moist deciduous lowland forests, woodlands, lowlands and rainforests. But these birds can be seen in moist forest areas near water during their breeding season and these birds can live in their flocks or on their own.
The Royal Flycatcher is a medium-sized passerine bird native to the Amazon Basin in South America. The Royal Flycatcher lives in moist lowland forests near streams where it lives quietly and mostly goes unnoticed.
These beautiful birds can be hard to spot as they do not show their crest and remain quiet. You will mostly find these birds alone, sitting quietly in trees, where they carefully search for food. During breeding season, the bird flashes its colorful crest in hopes of attracting a mate. Read- Ants | Fun Facts About The Mysterious World Of Ants
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How Royal Flycatchers Look
In appearance, Royal Flycatchers have dull brown upper parts with a brown and red tail. The male Royal Flycatcher usually raises his crest to display the colors of his plumage which are blue, yellow, black and red.
The most notable feature of Royal Flycatchers is their crest which folds down when not in use. The male bird has a blue, black and red crest while the female bird has a black, blue and yellow-orange one.
You can see these birds alone or in pairs and they communicate with low whistles. But Royal Flycatchers are quiet and inconspicuous most of the time. Royal Flycatcher birds prefer to live in solitude and feed alone in the forest.
Length And Weight Of Royal Flycatcher
Royal Flycatcher birds are about 5.5-6.7 inches in length and their relative Northern Royal Flycatcher is 6.5-7.1 inches long. Royal Flycatchers weigh around 8.1–11.3 grams and these species weigh significantly less than Great Crested Flycatchers.
What Do Royal Flycatcher Eat
Royal flycatchers feed near water and catch flying insects or pick them off leaves. Royal flycatchers feed on flying insects such as flies, cicadas, dragonflies and moths. Royal flycatchers forage for food near water and catch insects in the air or pick them off leaves.
You can also find Royal flycatchers in the understory of forests searching for ticks, small cicadas, leafhoppers and butterflies. Royal flycatchers spend most of their time searching for food rather than venturing out to catch insects.
Royal flycatchers can fall prey to large carnivorous birds such as eagles, falcons, hawks and owls. Royal flycatcher nestlings can also fall prey to snakes and larger birds. The colourful crest of the Royal flycatcher is used mainly for courtship. In addition, research suggests that it can stun or momentarily deter avian and mammalian predators.
Royal Flycatcher Nest
The life cycle of these birds is completed in four cycles like any other bird and these birds breed in moist forest habitats near water. During breeding time, the male Royal Flycatcher raises the colorful crest on his head to attract the female bird. Which he rarely shows until he finds a mate.
The female birds of these magnificent birds build a nest hanging from vines and branches above the ground or water, away from the reach of predators. This hanging nest of these birds is about 78.7 inches long. The female bird lays up to 2 eggs in the nest and the female bird incubates her eggs for 60% of the day.
Male Royal Flycatchers rarely incubate eggs. But male Royal Flycatchers defend their territory and the female bird feeds and cares for her children. When the chicks are old enough to fly, they jump out of the nest and learn to fly. There is not enough information on how long incubation takes or when the chicks leave the nest.
How Long Do Royal Flycatcher Live
Royal flycatchers live for about 6 years in the wild.
How Fast Can Royal Flycatcher Fly
Information is not available on how fast royal flycatchers can fly
How Do Royal Flycatcher Communicate
Royal flycatchers communicate through voice and display behavior and use this display behavior to protect their territories from other predatory birds. Read- Mountain Bluebird Interesting Facts About Lovely Bird
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How Many Royal Flycatcher Are There In The World
The population of royal flycatchers is estimated to be between about 500,000 and 5 million birds. But due to the continued loss of habitat, this bird species is declining in its numbers. These birds are also easily overlooked and live in low density areas in the world.
Royal flycatchers can be seen in their natural habitats. The conservation status of these birds is placed as least concern by the Red List of Endangered Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The biggest threat to the Royal Flycatcher is the loss of their habitat from wetlands and deforestation.
Behavior Of Royal Flycatcher
Royal flycatchers are small sized birds and are considered cute. But the Royal flycatchers cannot make a good pet as it prefers to live in the forests. There are some predators of the Royal flycatcher bird species such as snakes and large birds such as eagles and hawks.
This species of Royal flycatcher is not endangered and even the Northern Royal flycatcher species is not endangered. But the Atlantic Royal flycatcher bird species is placed as vulnerable by the Red List of Endangered Species of the International Union for Conservation.
Royal Flycatcher Facts For Kids
1. What do royal flycatchers eat?
Royal flycatchers feed near water and it catches flying insects or picks them out of leaves. Royal flycatchers mainly eat flying insects such as flies, cicadas, dragonflies and moths etc.
2. Why are flycatchers called flycatchers?
Royal flycatchers search for their food near water and catch insects in the air or pick them off leaves. You can also spot royal flycatchers in the understory of forests searching for ticks, small cicadas, leafhoppers and butterflies.
3. What does a flycatcher look like?
In appearance, this bird has dull brown upperparts with a brown and red tail. In general, the male bird raises its crest to display the colors of its feathers which include blue, yellow, black and red.
4. Where do royal flycatchers live?
Royal Flycatchers It is a medium-sized sparrow-like bird native to the Amazon Basin in South America. It lives in moist lowland forests near streams where it lives quietly and mostly goes unnoticed.
5. Are Royal Flycatchers rare?
The population of the Royal Flycatcher is between 500,000 and 5 million birds. But due to the continued loss of habitat, this species is decreasing in its numbers.
6. What is the habitat of the flycatcher?
Royal Flycatchers This bird makes its habitat in moist deciduous lowland forests, woodlands, lowlands and rain forests.
7. Scientific name of Royal Flycatcher?
The scientific name of the Royal Flycatcher bird is Onychorhynchus coronatus.
8. How did the Royal Flycatcher get this name?
Royal flycatchers are named for their regal-looking colourful crest and their ability to catch insects mid-air.
9. How long do royal flycatchers live?
Royal flycatchers live up to six years.
10. How big is a royal flycatcher?
Royal flycatchers are 5.5-6.7 inches long. Their relative, the northern royal flycatcher, is 6.5-7.1 inches long. Royal flycatchers weigh about 8.1-11.3 grams.