An elaborate waving red crest catches the eye, a shot of crimson color hanging from a jungle vine in a tangle of debris, the feathers of a tiny bird. Its waving signal is a display of the royal flycatcher, fully intended to make its presence known. But why?
A second crest appears near the first, this one different in hue, a pale yellow, but also swaying subtly. This is the female royal flycatcher, the first with the red crest being the male, her mate. That hanging “vine” with all the debris is their very unique and low-key jungle nest.
Looking like a large fan atop the head, the colorful crest plumage of both birds is fully concealable when retracted back behind the head but can be lifted high when signaling.
It appears that things may soon get romantic in the nest, as one of the primary reasons for this mutual crest display among royal flycatchers, that we know of, is the act of mating, though there are other instances as well.
Besides mating rituals, male royal flycatchers might show their colors when aggressively chasing away intruder males on their territory. In turn, females hanging out in the nest may flash their crest to ward off competing females.
When held by humans (yes, they will even be held), these birds are also well known for putting on a show for us, displaying their crest feathers while sitting in the hand, their heads gazing hypnotically and swaying in our direction, beak agape. A sight indeed!
Little is known about the royal flycatcher. Their pendulum-shaped nests, made of assorted plant fibers, often hang over riverbeds on thin branches or vines, making them hard for predators to reach. Such birds are abundant in forests of South America, from Brazil to Peru, as well as Central America and southeast Mexico.
The task of weaving that fantastically well-hidden nest falls on the female, who, after mating, will usually lay two eggs that are an unusual rufous-brown with some dark speckling. Males are not always monogamous, but might have as many as two mates.
While in the nest, the female is occasionally heard vocalizing, making her two-syllable call that sounds like “keeyup.” From the male, a descending series of plaintive whistles is vocalized, followed by a shorter note that sounds like “whi-peeu, peeu, peeu, peeu, peeu.”
The bright feathers of their crests are usually tucked back, while the rest of the bird’s plumage is dull olive-brown, except for its pale-yellow rump and rufous tail. They possess unusually short legs and long flat bills, which they use to catch beetles, flies, grasshoppers, and other small insects on the wing, being adept aerial acrobats.
Far from endangered, royal flycatchers are profuse yet still inherently difficult to study in their natural habitat—their crest signals being even more elusive due to the display’s infrequency. But regardless, intentional or not, sitting in hand, doing its wavy display, there is no question: this bird has grabbed our attention.
