flycatcher

Popular name for many species of small songbird of the family Muscicapidae, order Passeriformes. They feed on insects which they often generally catch by a twisting aerial chase, often returning to the same perch, particularly in the case of the spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata.

Flycatchers include the fantails, the Rhipidura species of the Oriental and Australasian regions; the paradise flycatchers, the Terpsiphone species of the countries bordering the Indian Ocean; and the Palaearctic genera such as Ficedula and Muscicapa. The Muscicapidae are confined to the Old World; in the New World their ecological niche is occupied by the tyrant-flycatchers of the family Tyrannidae. This family includes such species as the wide-ranging vermilion flycatcher, Pyrocephalus rubinus, and the spectacled tyrant, Lichenops perspicillata, of Chile and Argentina.