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Apical Flycatcher Myiarchus apicalis Scientific name definitions

Leo Joseph
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2004

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

Apical Flycatcher is a songbird endemic to Colombia.  The species lives in gallery forest in vallies in western Colombia below 1700 meters in elevation.  It is an easy Myiarchus flycatcher to identify, as it is the only member of that genus with conspicuous white tips to the tail feathers.  Otherwise it is a normal-appearing member of the genus with large size, slim shape, stout bill, and crest, and typical behavior, conspicuously hawking insects around woods and borders.  Apical Flycatcher gives several call types, a dry whit call, stutters, and whistles.

Field Identification

17 cm; 26–33·5 g. The only Myiarchus with conspicuous pale whitish tail tips; crest more bushy than on most congeners. Crown is brownish-olive, darker feather centres creating streaked appearance, and contrasting slightly, if at all, with darkish olive upperparts; wings brownish, pale whitish to yellowish tips and outer edges of greater and median wing-coverts and outer edges of secondaries and tertials, faint yellowish outer edges of innermost primaries; tail brownish, pale creamy tips on all except central rectrices (at least 8 mm on outermost feathers), some rectrices sometimes fringed with olive-green; throat and breast grey, whiter on throat, breast side washed olive, rest of underparts yellowish, tibial feathering olive-brown; underwing-coverts yellow; iris, bill and legs dark. Sexes similar. Juvenile presumably has rufous edges on wing-coverts and rectrices.

Systematics History

Affinities uncertain, as species not included in recent phylogenetic analyses. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Upper parts of four river systems in WC Colombia: Cauca Valley (Valle and Cauca; recorded also in Antioquia), Pacific slope in arid valleys of upper R Dagua (Valle), upper R Patía (Nariño and valley of R Calima), and Magdalena Valley (Santander and Boyacá S to Huila).

Habitat

Most numerous in scrubby vegetation of dry to arid valleys; also recorded in forest and lighter woodland borders, riparian trees and brush. A farm study site embedded in a suburban area where a nesting pair was studied for several years was mainly pasture, with rice and sorghum fields, a few large trees (Ceiba pentandra, Samanea saman, Erythrina glauca), and some small shade trees 5–8 m tall (Guazuma ulmifolia, Pithecellobium dulce, Fagara rhoifolia). From 400 m to 2000–2500 m, primarily below 1700 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Insects and small fruit; a beetle (Coleoptera) found in one stomach. Singly or in pairs. Forages by sallying from perch at middle and lower levels.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Repeated rolls, hiccups and whistles in response to intruding conspecifics; typically, gives long series of rolls without interjection of other vocalizations. Dawn song unknown.

Breeding

Laying recorded in Jul, Sept and Nov–Feb; males with enlarged testes late Jan to mid-Apr. Nests found in tree cavity 5 m up and in isolated stump in pasture, also in nestboxes. Following details refer to a pair studied Sept 1990 to Feb 1997 in a suburban area, where seven nesting attempts made (last of which in Jan 1995), all in nestboxes within area of 4 ha. Nest a base of sticks 5 cm deep, with layer of dry grass and fur on top and forming cup 7 cm across, lined with fur, feathers, snakeskin and pieces of plastic; mean clutch size 2·6 eggs; hatching asynchronous, 24 hours apart; nestling period 16–17 days. Female laid total of 18 eggs in seven clutches; four clutches fledged total of 11 young; two were preyed on, and outcome of the other was unknown. Female (ringed) remained in same pasture (26 km S of Cali, in Valle) for 6·5 years.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Colombian Inter-Andean Valleys EBA. Uncommon to locally fairly common. Common in upper Dagua Valley W of Cali (in Valle). Possibly expanding locally as secondary woodland, scrub and pasture replace cleared humid forest above 1700 m. Despite its relatively small range, it is therefore not threatened, but is not known to occur in any protected areas.
Distribution of the Apical Flycatcher - Range Map
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Distribution of the Apical Flycatcher

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Joseph, L. (2020). Apical Flycatcher (Myiarchus apicalis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.apifly1.01
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