Bird Guide

Rufous-tailed Flycatcher vs Sad Flycatcher

Rufous-tailed Flycatcher (Myiarchus validus)

Rufous-tailed Flycatcher

Myiarchus validus

Small41 gForest

The rufous-tailed flycatcher is a large flycatcher, about 24 cm (9.4 in) long and weighing about 39 to 43 g (1.4 to 1.5 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a smoky brown crown whose feathers form a small crest. Their face is slaty gray. Their upperparts are mostly dull olive with a rufous tinge on the uppertail coverts. Their wings are partially dull olive with wide rufous edges on the outer webs of the primaries and secondaries. Their tertials are almost entirely rufous. The wing coverts have wide rufous tips. Voice: The rufous-tailed flycatcher's song is a "fast, rolling, descending pree-ee-ee-ee-ee, like a horse's neigh". It also makes a "chi-chi-chiup".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: djcooker · CC BY 4.0
Sad Flycatcher (Myiarchus barbirostris)

Sad Flycatcher

Myiarchus barbirostris

Tiny13 gForest

The sad flycatcher is 16.5 to 17 cm (6.5 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 11.5 to 16 g (0.41 to 0.56 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a smoky olive-brown crown and face; the crown feathers form a crest. Their upperparts are more olive with rufous-tinged olive-brown uppertail coverts. Their wings are mostly brown with pale grayish edges on the tertials. Their greater and median wing coverts have a rufous tinge that forms faint wing bars. Their tail is mostly brown with rufous on the outer webs of some feathers. Voice: The sad flycatcher's call is an emphatic "pip, pip-pip". It also sometimes makes a pip-pip-piree" that rises at the end.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Rufous-tailed Flycatcher and Sad Flycatcher.