Vermilion Flycatcher

The Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is usually found near the US – Mexican border but we were fortunate this year to find an adult male in northern California! Click on photos for full sized images.

Vermilion Flycatcher Range

I had reserved the photo blind at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge last weekend and figured I would stop by the Maxwell Cemetery on the way back home to try to find the male Vermilion Flycatcher that had been hanging out there for more than the past week, hoping he was still there.

Vermilion

I was not disappointed!

Vermilion Flycatcher

With his fiery red head and flaming vermilion breast he was not hard to find.

Vermilion Flycatcher Male

The female of the species is beautiful in her own right but only the male had been seen here. Photo of female (below) by Gary L. Clark, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Vermilion Flycatcher Female

Several enthusiastic birders observed and photographed this bird as he flew up to the tops of the cedars in the cemetery where he exhibited typical aerial hawking maneuvers, using short swooping flights from a perch and returning to the same perch.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatchers also forage on the ground, pursuing prey from a perch, bringing the prey back to the perch and beating larger prey before consuming them. I captured a few shots of this male beating a cricket against a branch before eating it.

Vermilion Flycatcher Male

After consuming the cricket, he flew out to the perimeter of the tree and began to preen.  That is when most of these photos were taken.

Vermilion Flycatcher

It’s always fun to add another life bird to your list, especially when you get to share the experience with several birding friends.

We all birded the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge after leaving the cemetery. There we passed on our vermilion experience with a group of novice young birders being led by a school group from Sacramento. They were very excited about spotting this guy on the way back to Sacramento. How could you not be thrilled to see pyrocephalus, the bird with the fiery head!

Vermilion Flycatcher

Written by Larry
Larry Jordan was introduced to birding after moving to northern California where he was overwhelmed by the local wildlife, forcing him to buy his first field guide just to be able to identify all the species visiting his yard. Building birdhouses and putting up feeders brought the avian fauna even closer and he was hooked. Larry wanted to share his passion for birds and conservation and hatched The Birder's Report in September of 2007. His recent focus is on bringing the Western Burrowing Owl back to life in California where he also monitors several bluebird trails. He is a BirdLife Species Champion and contributes to several other conservation efforts, being the webmaster for Wintu Audubon Society and the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Bird Foundation. He is now co-founder of a movement to create a new revenue stream for our National Wildlife Refuges with a Wildlife Conservation Pass.