| The male Vermilion Flycatcher has a brilliant scarlet crown and underparts while the wings back and tail are brownish-black. The female is grayish brown above and white with dark streaks below, sometimes there bellies are tinged with pink or yellow. This bird will often pump its tale when perched. The scientific name Pyrocephalus is very appropriate meaning "fire-head".
Almost always found near water, the habitat consists of the trees and shrubs along the rivers, ponds and roadsides in the southern part of the United States within a few hundred miles of the Mexican border and south into the tropics. During the winter the bird will inhabit the southern part of its breeding range in the United States and along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. In Mexico the bird is known as brasita de fuego or sangre de toro which is translated "little coal of fire"or "bull's blood".
Courtship displays are stunning as the male will swoops from a heights of about 50 feet while twittering and hovering with the tail fanned and crest raised frantically beating its wings while fluttering downward.
The clutch consists of 3 creamy-white eggs boldly marked with brown or lavender and laid in a well made nest or twigs, grass, rootlets and spiderwebs and lined with bits of lichen, hair and feathers. The nest is usually placed in the fork of a horizontal branch, out from the trunk and 6 to 20 feet from the ground. The eggs are incubated for about two weeks and leave the nest about two weeks later. The male does not incubate or brood the young but will feed the female while she incubates and broods.
The Vermilion Flycatcher feeds almost exclusively on insects, especially bees and often hunts near the water's surface. The Vermilion ejects pellets of undigested materials.
Length 5 to 6 inches
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