Bird Guide

Dusky-capped Flycatcher vs Short-crested Flycatcher

Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer)

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Myiarchus tuberculifer

Small18 gForest

The dusky-capped flycatcher is 16 to 18.5 cm (6.3 to 7.3 in) long and weighs 14 to 27 g (0.49 to 0.95 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. t. tuberculifer have a sooty brown crown and face; the crown feathers form a slight crest. Their upperparts are mostly dark greenish olive-brown with browner uppertail coverts. Their wings are mostly dusky with thin dull white edges on the secondaries and thin buffy-white edges on the inner primaries. Their greater and median wing coverts have buffy brown edges. Their tail is dark grayish brown. Voice: The dusky-capped flycatcher's vocalizations vary across its range. In Mexico its dawn song "consists of a long series of "sentences" made up of 2 or 3 elements". In much of Central America it is "a short, sharply whistled whit, a long drawn, plaintive, whistled wheeeu, and an emphatic whistle cut short". In much of South America it is "plaintive whistles alternated with huit notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Recorded by JUAN ANTONIO ALONSO DE JUAN · Song · Vereda La Máquina, Pacho, Cundinamarca, Colombia · CC BY 4.0
Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Short-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus ferox)

Short-crested Flycatcher

Myiarchus ferox

Small28 gForest

The short-crested flycatcher is about 18 cm (7.1 in) long and weighs 21 to 34 g (0.74 to 1.2 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. f. ferox have a smoky brown crown and upperparts; the crown has a slight crest. Their face is otherwise gray. Their wings are mostly dark brown with whitish yellow to grayish outer webs on the tertials. The wing's greater and median coverts have wide paler fuscous brown tips that show as two wing bars. Their tail is dark smoky brown with rufous edges on the feathers that quickly wear away. Voice: The short-crested flycatcher's song, given both at dawn and during the day, is "hort, slowly vibrato-modulated whistles given infrequently". It has also been described as a "short, fine prrrrih trill". Its calls include "rasping whistles, hiccups, and sometimes strident rattles".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Short-crested Flycatcher
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz · Song · Fila De Mariches (near Parroquia La Dolorita), Sucre, Distrito Capital, Venezuela · CC0
Photo: filipeprates · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dusky-capped Flycatcher and Short-crested Flycatcher.