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The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher nests in the open country of Texas, Oklahoma, and the south-central region. It's an elegant bird with a slender, deeply forked tail longer than its body. Agile in flight, it can spread and fold its tail, altering the surface area, like an extra pair of wings. When displaying to a female, the male dives again and again, opening and closing his tail. He may even perform a reverse somersault, flashing his pink sides and that long streamer of a tail.
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BirdNote®
A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Turns Somersaults
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call]
That’s one of the country’s most unforgettable birds — a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. And right now, they’re migrating north to nest in the open country of Texas, Oklahoma, and the south-central region.
[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call]
The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher goes beyond elegant – it’s truly a fanciful bird. Robin-sized … the palest of silver-grays … with a slender, deeply forked tail that’s longer than its body. And when the Scissor-tail lifts its wings, it flashes vivid salmon-pink flanks and underwings. Stunning.
[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call]
Most of the Scissor-tail’s closest relatives have normal length tails. But with that extra length and the scissor-shaped structure comes incredible agility in flight. As the bird flies, it can spread and fold its tail, dramatically altering the surface area. It’s almost like the Scissor-tail has an extra pair of wings, as it twists in mid-air, chasing down an insect.
[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call]
When displaying to a female, the male Scissor-tail flies straight up and dives steeply down again and again, opening and closing its tail. And to top it off, he may even perform a reverse, mid-air somersault, flashing his pink sides and that long streamer of a tail in the same instant. Breathtaking.
[Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher [ML105244 and ML40548] recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2017 BirdNote April 2017 / 2021 / 2026
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# STFL-01-2017-04-25
Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Michael Stein
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