Streaked flycatcher

The streaked flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus) is a passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Mexico, in every South American country except El Salvador, in Trinidad and Tobago, in every mainland South American country (though only as a vagrant to Chile), and as a vagrant to Bonaire.

Taxonomy and systematics

The streaked flycatcher's taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC, the North and South American Classification Committees of the American Ornithological Society, and the Clements taxonomy assign it these seven subspecies:

m. insolens Ridgway, 1887
M. m. difficilis Zimmer, JT, 1937
M. m. nobilis Sclater, PL, 1859
M. m. chapmani Zimmer, JT, 1937
M. m. maculatus (Statius Müller, PL, 1776)
M. m. tobagensis Zimmer, JT, 1937
M. m. solitarius (Vieillot, 1819)

What is now M. m. solitarius was originally described as a species, Tyrannus solitarius. Though it was later moved to genus Myiodynastes it was treated by many authors as a full species into the twentieth century. By about the middle of the century most taxonomists had reassigned it as a subspecies of M. maculatus. Clements does recognize some partial separation between the two within the single species, calling them respectively the "streaked flycatcher (southern)" and "streaked flycatcher (northern)".

The other subspecies of the streaked flycatcher differ from the nominate and each other thus:

M. m. difficilis: southwestern Nicaragua south through western Costa Rica, through Panama including offshore islands, and across central Colombia into western Venezuela through Zulia and Táchira to Portuguesa
M. m. nobilis: across Colombia from northern Córdoba Department including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta into the western Serranía del Perijá
M. m. maculatus: Suriname, French Guiana, northern Brazil north of the Amazon from the upper Negro River east to northwestern Maranhão
M. m. tobagensis: Venezuela except the west, Venezuela's Margarita Island, Trinidad, Tobago, and Guyana

The species has also occurred as a vagrant on Bonaire and in Chile. It typically forages singly or in pairs and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. The migrants from southern South America eat a higher proportion of fruit than resident subspecies. The species forages mostly from the forest's mid-level to the canopy, and catches most insect prey in mid-air with short sallies from a perch. It also takes insects while briefly hovering or after a short glide, and takes fruit by gleaning while perched and while hovering.

Breeding

The streaked flycatcher's breeding season varies greatly among the subspecies. The northernmost subspecies M. m. insolens breeds in at least May and June. M. m. difficilis breeds from December to August in the north and March to July in Colombia. The southern M. m. solitarius breeds between September and January. The species' nest is a cup or bowl made from somewhat coarse plant fibers and lined with finer ones; the female alone constructs it. It is usually placed in a cavity in a tree, either natural or one made by a woodpecker. In the latter the female usually adds much material to the cavity's bottom to raise the nest. Nests have also been found in bromeliad masses, in an opening in vine tangles, in nest boxes, under the eaves of human structures, and extremely rarely in the open on a branch. The clutch is usually two or three eggs though four-egg clutches are known. The eggs are white or creamy with reddish brown spots. Females incubate the clutch for 15 to 17 days. Fledging occurs 17 to 21 days after hatch and both parents provision the nestlings. Shiny cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis) are a brood parasite.