Fancy Tail

Taking a break from fixing all our Haunted Trail decor that failed for one reason or another during our last event. Most of these are pretty easy having been at this for a while now, but there are those spirits in the machine that require a deeper dive into the finicky world of electronics – especially ones that were exposed to a nonstop deluge of rain like on our last night – damn thee weather gods ha. Needed to step away a bit to clear the head and figured it was a good time to relax and get a post out. In honor of the colors of Halloween, let’s go with a black(ish) and orange(ish) specimen for our featured feathered friend of the day.

Absolutely gorgeous from my perspective, but completing the theme, a nightmare for any insects that try to cross its killing field. Hit the jump to see more shots of this fancy-tailed Flycatcher.

Hoping this is a nice break for you as well. We’ve been heavy on the large white shorebirds as of late and opted to switch it up a bit and bring you a more traditional land-based species. One with a long elegant tail similar to those beautiful plumes on the Egrets – just stuck on the opposite end ha.

These shots come to you from South Padre Island and in case you are not familiar with the regions of these stunning Flycatchers, this would be the breeding time of the year (late March/early April). The Scissors spend their winters down in Central America – specifically south Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and then down the south coast to South America.

During the frisky season, these magnificently tailed creatures push up into Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and partially into Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana – per Cornell’s official range map. If you select their Sightings Map instead, you will see they can push much farther out than that. In fact, I can confirm that they have been found here in IL only about an hour from us in Havana (yes, we have a Havana as well).

It happens to be one of my official “spark birds” for getting me back into birding after leaving the field to tackle the challenges of a career. Back in 2015 there was a sighting of a Swallow-Tailed Kite at my Alma Mater that my brother convinced me to go after – my first official chase (link here). Soon after that a Scissor-Tail showed up at a small Havana substation out it he middle of nowhere. I was officially back Chasing the Dragon (the birding dragon of course – link here). That specimen ended up bringing a mate back for several more years after that and I would be there every time, Beast in hand to witness the beauty and ponder why the hell it would be THERE.

Never got an answer – it refused to respond to my many requests, but they stopped showing up after a three or so year stint forcing me to get my fix in other states. Fortunately we had sightings on multiple trips through Kansas and then we had the chance to explore Texas during the Spring giving us many looks at the species – if you recall, we had swapped our Texas and Arizona trip back in 2024 giving us our first real look at our home away from home in the breeding season.

There are a few “sure-things” in regards to south Texas birding. The best looks at Whooping Cranes are at the Big Tree near Goose Island State Park (before they head north Wood Buffalo NP, the Pauraque will be hanging out along Alligator Pond in Estero Llano SP, the Parrots will make their nightly return to Oliveira Park in Brownsville and the Clapper Rails will be hanging out under the boardwalk at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas (Note, it has come to my attention that there maybe some differing opinions about that last one – apologies to Sam – link here).

Another one on the list is seeing the Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers hanging out behind the SPI convention center on the Laguna Madre Trail. Tanja (link here) was able to confirm that for us, as well, on her previous visit to the area. This also happens to be the highest number of the Scissors seen at one place. Most of our encounters are usually in the 1 to 2 range, but at the time these were taken there were at least 6 pairs of eyes scanning the kill zone for any insect stupid enough to cross it.

Oh, it is a bit harder to see outside of flight, but they have bright orange armpits to complement their color palette – males are generally more vibrant than the females. Not the best shot, but the specimen below was gracious enough to give us a nice view.

As mentioned above, this Flycatcher is true to name and like to munch on various insects including the larger families like Grasshoppers and Crickets. This shot below (admittedly a poor one) reminded me that there are some insects that get a free pass when it comes to the bloodthirsty gaze of the Tyrant FCs and that is some members of the Butterfly family. The fact that this Scissor was content to watch this big juicy morsel flutter by says it all.

I am not great at my Butterfly IDs – if you want an expert in this field, check out Brian over in the UK at Butterflies to Dragsters (link here). When it comes to Orange and Black (seeing a theme here) Butters, four that come to mind are the Viceroy, Soldiers, Queens and probably the most well-known, the Monarch. The Soldiers and Queens do not have the heavy black veining in the wings really leaving me with two options for the one that photobombed my shot. Going to take a guess and say the lack of a horizontal black vein on the hindwing means this is Monarch.

Anybody with a differing opinion, please feel free to correct me in the comments. In the end, the reason for pointing this out is still true for all four of the mentioned Butters – they are all dangerous to most birds due to their consumption of toxins present in the Milkweeds they consume during their caterpillar stage – something called Cardenolides. I will now finish with about the only remaining piece of Butterfly knowledge I possess – had that been a Black-Headed Grosbeak or a Black-Backed Oriole on that branch it would have been using a napkin to wipe the orange powder from its bill and flossing with antennae.

I swear a clown prop just moved on its own by my lab workbench, I better wrap this up and go find a large sharp knife, this could get ugly. Take care everyone and hope you enjoyed this series of a truly beautiful specimen from the birding world. As a reminder, we ONLY have 205 more days until our next Haunted Trail and we have soooo much to do before then!!