‘TYRANTS OF ABACO’: FLYCATCHER ID (1)

LOGGERHEAD vs GRAY KINGBIRD

Abaco has 275 (or so) recorded bird species. Omitting the transients, vagrants and (frankly) oddities – hello, feral peafowl of Casuarina – and concentrating on the residents and the summer / winter migrants brings the checklist down considerably. Maybe to around 200. But there is still an awful lot of scope for species confusion. This is frequently found with the warblers (37 species, mostly yellow), shorebirds and (my particular blind spot) gulls & terns with all their gender, age, season and breeding plumage variations. There is one common confusion that surrounds just 4 birds. I’ve decided to tackle the issue because these are the birds I am most frequently asked by people to identify. They send me their photos or a link, or post them on my FB page, and I am always delighted to help. Except… I get confused myself sometimes. So now I plan to demystify the Tyrant Flycatchers (Tyrannidae) of Abaco once and for all. Or for the time being, anyway.

ABACO’S TYRANT FLYCATCHER SPECIES

There are 14 tyrant species recorded for Abaco, as listed in the checklist clip above taken from “THE BIRDS OF ABACO” (a FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER was seen recently for the first time on Abaco, and will in due course be added to the checklist). You’ll be relieved to learn that we can at once dispense of 10 of the above for present purposes. In practical terms – i.e. everyday life – the only flycatchers you need to be concerned with are the 4 underlined in red above: Cuban Pewee, Gray Kingbird, La Sagra’s Flycatcher and Loggerhead Kingbird. The underlined codes provide useful information for each bird .

• PR 3 of the 4 are permanent residents – not the gray kingbird, which is SR a summer resident
• B    these 4 are the only flycatchers that breed on Abaco
• 1     all 4 are widespread, commonly and easily found. All other candidates are unusual to very rare

LOGGERHEAD Tyrannus caudifasciatus vs GRAY Tyrannus dominicensis 

DIFFERENCES and SIMILARITIES

TOP TIP ANY KINGBIRD SEEN IN WINTER WILL BE A LOGGERHEAD

• A kingbird seen between (say) October and March is a Loggerhead. Grays are strictly summer visitors
• Both are medium size birds and roughly the same size as adults (around 23 cms)
• Loggerheads have dark brownish heads (some say black), grays have lighter, slate-coloured heads
• Loggerheads have a ‘squared’ tip to the tail; grays have a notched tip
• Loggerheads may have a whitish fringe at the tip of the tail; grays not so
• Loggerheads have yellowish tinges to their white undersides & forewings; grays less so or not at all
• Grays have a dark or black ‘mask’ through the eyes, often clear but not always easy to see
• Loggerheads allegedly have inconspicuous orange head crests; grays are red. I’ve never seen either!
• [*RH opinion alert*] Grays have larger, heavier beaks than loggerheads
• Grays are territorially aggressive; when they turn up, the loggerheads tend to retreat to the forest

Here is how David Sibley shows the differences

  

Illustrations: David Allen Sibley

Gray or Loggerhead? Note the light head, discernible mask & notched tail

Loggerhead or Gray? Note the darker head and no mask