Piratic Flycatcher

Legatus leucophaius

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernFruitForestCavity nestSmall · 22 g

What the Piratic Flycatcher sounds like

Sonogram of the Piratic Flycatcher: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz @rosaelena_naturaleza · Song · El Hatillo (near Caracas), Libertador, Capital District, Venezuela · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Piratic Flycatcher: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz @rosaelena_naturaleza · Song · El Hatillo (near Caracas), Libertador, Capital District, Venezuela · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Piratic Flycatcher: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Napo: Estero Ayapata 3.5.km WSW Archidona, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The piratic flycatcher is 14.5 to 17 cm (5.7 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 19 to 26 g (0.67 to 0.92 oz). The sexes and the subspecies have the same plumage though subspecies L. l. variegatus is significantly larger than the nominate. Adults have a blackish forehead and crown with a partially hidden yellow patch on the latter. They have a wide dull whitish supercilium that extends around the head under the crown; it has some faint grayish streaks toward the rear. They have dusky lores, ear coverts, and moustachial stripe and white cheeks. Voice: The piratic flycatcher is highly vocal during the breeding season, and usually vocalizes from a high perch. Its call has been variously described as wee-o-dee!, "a whining querulous weé-yee", and "a loud, high, rising-falling whistle: wseeEEEeee".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Piratic Flycatcher

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is March, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Piratic Flycatcher

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 19 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States.

About the Piratic Flycatcher

The piratic flycatcher is a passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Mexico, in every Central American country except El Salvador, in Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Chile, though in Uruguay only as a vagrant. It has also occurred several times as a vagrant in the southern United States.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: American Dusky Flycatcher vs Piratic Flycatcher · Couch's Kingbird vs Piratic Flycatcher · Bright-rumped Attila vs Piratic Flycatcher

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