The piratic flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) 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.
Taxonomy and systematics
The piratic flycatcher was originally described in 1818 as Platyrhynchos leucophaius. It was later moved to its current genus Legatus that was erected in 1859. For a time it was also known as Legatus albicollis.
The piratic flycatcher is the only member of genus Legatus. It has two subspecies, the nominate L. l. leucophaius (Vieillot, 1818) and L. l. variegatus (Sclater, PL, 1857).
Distribution and habitat
Subspecies L. l. variegatus is the more northerly of the two. It is found from San Luis Potosí in east-central Mexico south on the Gulf-Caribbean side of the country except for the eastern Yucatán Peninsula and south through Belize and northern and central Guatemala into northern and eastern Honduras. It also occurs on the Pacific slope in Mexico's Chiapas state. The nominate subspecies is found from Nicaragua south through Costa Rica and Panama into Colombia. In South America its range extends south through Colombia, western and eastern Ecuador, and eastern Peru. It extends east through Venezuela and the Guianas and from there south through Brazil to Mato Grosso and northern Rio Grande do Sul except for part of the country's northeast, through northern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay, and into northwestern Argentina to Tucumán Province and northeastern Argentina to Corrientes Province. It also occurs on both Trinidad and Tobago. In Colombia it reaches , in Ecuador , in Peru , in Venezuela , and in Brazil .
Behavior
Movement
The piratic flycatcher is a partial migrant, though its movements are not known in detail. It almost entirely vacates Mexico and Central America from about late September into January though there are scattered records there throughout the winter. These migrants apparently winter in northern South America. The species is a year-round resident in most of South America though it appears to be present in far southern Brazil and in Argentina only in the austral summer of September to March.
Breeding
The piratic flycatcher's breeding season has not been fully defined. It includes February to August in different parts of Venezuela and on Trinidad, August to December in Peru, and October to December in Argentina. It does not build its own nest, but pirates domed or pendant nests of other species. The most often affected are members of family Icteridae (such as caciques), Phacellodomus thornbirds, and other tyrant flycatchers. They take over the nest by harassing its builders and by removing eggs and sometimes nestlings. Its clutch is two to three eggs that are white with a rosy tinge and chestnut and gray markings. The incubation period is 16 days and females alone incubate. Fledging occurs 18 to 20 days after hatch. During the nestling period females brood the young and both parents provision them. "a whining querulous weé-yee",