Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

[order] Passeriformes | [family] Tyrannidae | [latin] Myiodynastes maculatus | [UK] Streaked Flycatcher | [FR] Tyran audacieux | [DE] Sudlicher Fleckenmaskentyrann | [ES] Bienteveo Rayado | [IT] Pigliamosche pitango striato | [NL] Gestreepte Tiran

The Streaked Flycatcher is 22 cm long, weighs 43g and has a strong black bill. The head is brown with a concealed yellow crown patch, white supercilium and dusky eye mask. The upperparts are brown with darker brown streaks on the back, rufous and white edges on the wings, and wide chestnut edges on the rump and tail. The underparts are yellowish-white streaked with brown.

It breeds from eastern Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago south to Bolivia and Argentina.

This species is found at the edges of forests and cocoa plantations. It prefers secondary woodland and forest borders while in Amazonia it is mainly found in varzea forest and on river islands

The nest is an open cup of twigs and grasses placed in a tree hollow or sometimes a bromeliad. The female builds the nest and incubates the typical clutch of two or three creamy-white eggs, which are marked with red-brown spots, for 16-17 days to hatching. Both sexes feed the chicks, which fledge in a further 18-21 days.

Streaked Flycatchers eat a range of food items, mostly large insects, but also lizards and berries. It perches on a high watchpoint from which it sallies forth to catch insects in mid-flight or off plants using a range of aerobatic maneuvers, and occasionally gleans prey from the vegetation. The wintering southern migrants seem to include a considerable amount of fruit in their diet.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 14,000,000 km