State of the Species: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus)

Written by: Andy Goerdel, Guest Contributor

The scissor-tailed flycatcher, with its namesake long, forked tails, is one of the most recognizable bird species on the Katy Prairie and throughout southeast Texas’s coastal prairie ecosystem. The male’s tail can reach up to 15 inches long while the female’s tail can reach about 10.5 inches, making the scissor-tailed flycatcher a spectacular sight to see. 

The species name forficata, not surprising, derives from the Latin word for 'scissors' (forfex). The scissortail is a member of the Tyrannus, or 'tyrant-like' genus. This genus earned its name because several of its species are extremely aggressive on their breeding territories, where they will attack larger birds such as crows, hawks, and owls.

During the reproduction season between April and August, the male performs a spectacular aerial display during courtship, sharply rising and descending in flight, its long tail streamers opening and closing, while the bird gives sharp calls. He may even perform backwards somersaults in the air. Scissor-tailed flycatchers build cup nests from twigs, stems, paper, bark, and feathers in isolated trees or shrubs, sometimes using artificial sites such as telephone poles. When breeding, scissor-tailed flycatchers prefer open shrubby country with scattered trees in the south-central states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas; western portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri; far eastern New Mexico; and northeastern Mexico.

Migration routes bring the scissor-tailed flycatcher through Texas’s coastal prairie and eastern Mexico to their winter non-breeding range from southern Mexico to Panama. Pre-migratory roosts and flocks flying south may contain as many as 1000 birds, and these communal roosts are often used for several years – some being used for more than 20 years! Portions of the Katy Prairie are suitable habitat for the scissor-tailed flycatcher with abundant insects, like grasshoppers and dragonflies, which they sometimes catch by waiting on a perch and flying out to catch them mid-flight. 

Despite a decreasing population between 7.9 and 9.5 million, the species’s conservation status is currently least concern with exception to North Carolina, where it is at Watch List level 3 - believed to be rare and of conservation concern in the state. As the Coastal Prairie Conservancy works to conserve the coastal grasslands and ranch lands that scissor-tailed flycatchers depend on to thrive, your support makes all the difference as extreme weather and development pressure threaten the lands these birds call home.