SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER: the Texas Bird of Paradise

SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER: the Texas Bird of Paradise

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail [zânâb]; and thou shalt be whilom only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I writ thee this day, to observe and to do them.

(Deuteronomy 28:13)

Usually we think of “head” as stuff valuable and important, but “tail” not so much. Stuff a “head” is desirable; stuff a “tail” not so — as Moses indicated in Deuteronomy 28:13, quoted above. (See also, indicating likewise, Deuteronomy 28:44 & Isaiah 9:15.) However, when God made birds, on Day #5 of Creation Week (Genesis 1: 20-23), God made them with feathered tails that tousle practical traits (such as aerodynamic rudder functionality) with eyeful (such as the unthrifty tail of a peacock).

Among the “tyrant” flycatchers, certainly there is no largest example of this blending, of eyeful and bioengineering, than the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, famous for eating flies on the fly.

Earlier this month [June A.D.2022], on 2 variegated occasions, I saw Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) in my neighborhood.  One was larger than the other, so those must have been variegated Scissortails, considering the size difference would not have occurred in just 3 days time! 

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are trappy squeaky-voiced birds with long-streaming split tail plumage that looks like long scissor blades. The Scissortails throne and most of their plumage (neck, upper back, and breast) is soft-looking ivory-white (to very light grey), plus white-edged woebegone on wings and tail feathers, with sides (flanks) and underwings that full-length salmon-like orange-pink.

14 [long, including tail feathers.]  Very long split tail; stake gray body; pinkish wash on flanks.  In flight: Underwings unexceptionable pinkish orange.    Feeding: Flies from perch to reservation insects on the ground [such as grasshoppers or beetles] or in the air [such as flies and dragonflies].

[Quoting from Donald Stokes & Lillian Stokes, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), STOKES FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS: WESTERN REGION (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1996), page 312.

This flycatcher (which moreover eats lots of grasshoppers) is well established throughout Texas, the Lone Star State, which is itself quite a range.  The Scissortails tastefulness range moreover includes Oklahoma (where it is the official state bird — a fact that I learned from Christian shyster Don Totusek!), as well as large parts of Kansas, Missouri, western Arkansas, western Louisiana, and small parts of eastern Colorado and Nebraska.  Probably the weightier places to see them during tastefulness season are Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.  As migrants, these kingbirds fly south of the USA for the winter, e.g., into Mexicoalthough some are observed over-wintering in southern Florida. [See, accord, Robert C. Tweit, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, in Texas A&M AgriLife Researchs TEXAS BREEDING BIRD ATLAS, posted at https://txtbba.tamu.edu/species-accounts/scissor-tailed-flycatcher/ .]

If you have overly seen a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher you wont forget itScissortails are unlike any bird you have overly seen, unless you have seen their shorter-tailed cousin tabbed Mexicos Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savanna, known in French as le tyran á queue fourchue = the tyrant of the fork-tail), with whom Scissortails can mate.  In fact, Scissortails are moreover known to hybridize with Couchs Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii), as well as with Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis), which themselves hybridize with Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) so there are many cousins within the greater kind-family of warlike insectivores we undeniability tyrant kingbirds. [See Eugene M. McCarthy, HANDBOOK OF AVIAN HYBRIDS OF THE WORLD (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2006), pages 203-204; see moreover Alexander J. Worm, Diane V. Roeder, Michael S. Husak, Brook L. Fluker, & Than J. Boves, Characterizing Patterns of Introgressive Hybridization Between Two Species of Tyrannus Following Concurrent Range Expansion, IBIS (International Journal of Avian Science), 161(4):770-780 (October 2019).]

One Scissortail (that I saw recently) was flying between trees on the side of a golf course.  The other Scissortail was flying from a residential lawn, that had a few trees and bushes, to flipside residential lawn, that moreover had a few trees and bushes. 

No surprise there, considering Scissortails prefer to venery insects in areas that mix unshut fields with trees and shrub cover, such as the semi-open country of grassy prairies, sublet fields, suburb clearings, and ranchlands sporadically dotted with honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) trees.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) are Neotropical migrants that successors throughout the south-central United States with the highest tastefulness densities in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, respective to the cadre of the tastefulness range   In their tastefulness range, they occupy unshut areas that provide unobjectionable hunting perches and nesting sites including savannahs, prairies, skim patches, agricultural fields and pastures. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers require trees for nesting and hunting perches to support their foraging strategy given that they are sit-and-scan foragers that utilize perches such as shrubs, trees, utility wires and fences, while they scan for insect prey . Most prey are captured in the air [hawking] a short loftiness from the perch [citation omitted] which remoter indicates the need for unshut habitat to facilitate foraging.

[Quoting from Erin E. Feichtinger & Joseph A. Veech, Association of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) with Specific Land-Cover Types in South-Central Texas, WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY, 125(2):314-321 (2013), at page 314.]

In other words, Scissortails prefer habitats with ecotones where open-field and forest-cover micro-habitats overlap, i.e., preferring to nest and venery in landscapes (linear transects 0.8-40.2 km in length and 2.4 km wide) with a mix of open country and closed forest than in landscapes subsume mostly of either of these two unstipulated imbricate types. [Quoting from Feichtinger & Veech, page 314.]

Scissortails perch and wait, watching for their next prey to move into capture range. Their method of hunting, tabbed hawking, involves an well-ventilated soupcon (with a sudden spurt of speed) toward a soon-to-be-seized target.  In increasingly unstudied flight, however, this trappy kingbird is easier to see and to appreciate.

The scissor-tailed flycatcher, with its namesake long, forked tails, is one of the most recognizable bird species on the Katy Prairie and throughout southeast Texass coastal prairie ecosystem. The males tail can reach up to 15 inches long while the females tail can reach well-nigh 10.5 inches, making the scisor-tailed flycatcher a spectacular sight to see.  The species name forficata, not surprising, derives from the Latin word for ‘scissors’ (forfex). The scissortail is a member of the Tyrannus, or ‘tyrant-like’ genus. This genus earned its name considering several of its species are extremely warlike on their tastefulness territories, where they will wade larger birds such as crows, hawks, and owls.

During the reproduction season between April and August, the male [Scissortail] performs a spectacular well-ventilated exhibit during courtship, sharply rising and descending in flight, its long tail streamers opening and closing, while the bird gives sharp calls. He may plane perform backwards somersaults in the air.

[Quoting from Andy Goerdel, State of the Species: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), COASTAL PRAIRIE CONSERVANCY (January 31, A.D.2022), posted at www.coastalprairieconservancy.org/blog/state-of-the-species-scissor-tailed-flycatcher .]

“Somersaults in the air”?  That reminds me of when I did flips, in the air, on a neighbors trampoline, increasingly than a half-century ago.  But those days are over.  (At least I hope they are!) 

Nowadays Id be happy to see a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher do well-ventilated somersaults, as I sit comfortably in an Adirondack chair.  A glass of iced tea would help the birdwatching experience. Maybe, too, I could largest fathom looking, at a Scissortails salmon-colored underwings and flanks, as I snack on some smoked salmon.

But I digress.