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Panama Flycatcher | Myiarchus panamensis
Panamese tiran | Copetón panameño | Maria-cavaleira-do-panamá
The Panama Flycatcher is a greyish Myiarchus of mangroves, forest edges and semi-open country, from Costa Rica to northern Colombia and north-western Venezuela. In the guide area it occurs mainly in Colombia and reaches the limit of its range in the extreme north-west of Ecuador. It is found more often at forest edges and in degraded forest than Dusky-capped Flycatcher.
Voice
A sharp tseeu and rapid series like wheer-de-de-de; at dawn repeated whistles.
Recording: José María Loaiza B. — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
19–20 cm, with a black bill. The upperparts are greyish olive-brown, the crown barely darker than the back. The throat and breast are grey, the belly pale yellow. The wings have pale edges to the coverts and tertials and little or no rufous; the tail is brown, with no or very little rufous. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Venezuelan Flycatcher Myiarchus venezuelensis is browner, with narrow rufous edges to the primaries. Brown-crested Flycatcher Myiarchus tyrannulus has obvious rufous in the wing and tail. Dusky-capped Flycatcher Myiarchus tuberculifer is smaller, with a dark cap and a yellower belly. Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus, a northern winter visitor, has a dark grey breast and much rufous in the tail.
Habitat
Mangroves, forest edges, gallery forest, dry and secondary forest and open country with scattered trees and shrubs, from sea level to about 800 m. It catches insects in short sallies from a perch. It nests in tree cavities.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia along the entire Pacific coast, in the Caribbean lowlands in the north and in the lower parts of the Cauca and Magdalena valleys. In Ecuador only in the extreme north-west. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in south-western Costa Rica, Panama and north-western Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search mangrove edges and semi-open country with trees along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates degraded forest and semi-open country.
Scientific name
Myiarchus panamensis | Lawrence, 1861
Lawrence described the species in 1861 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Myiarchus was introduced in 1844 by Cabanis. The genus name comes from Greek muia, 'fly', and arkhos, 'ruler, chief'. The species name refers to Panama, not necessarily the type locality. The specimen the first description was based on came from Isthmus of Panama.