General
Variegated Flycatcher: Medium-sized flycatcher with dark brown-and-black scaled upperparts, thick, dark brown eye-line on pale face, thin brown moustache stripe, and dark-streaked, pale yellow underparts. Wing feathers are dark with pale edges. Tail feathers are dark with thick rufous edges. Upper mandible is black, lower mandible is dark with yellow base. Sexes are similar.
Range and Habitat
Variegated Flycatcher: Accidental in North America; recorded in Maine, Tennessee, and Florida (Florida record remains questionable). Uncommon to common in South America.
Breeding and Nesting
Variegated Flycatcher: Three to four white to pale buff eggs heavily spotted with red brown are laid in a cup nest made of twigs, bark, leaf stems, and grass, and built on a horizontal tree branch 8 to 25 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 14 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Variegated Flycatcher: Eats mostly insects, berries, and fruits; forages from a low perch, flying out to catch insects in mid-air, and then returning to perch to eat.
Readily Eats
Meal Worms
Vocalization
Variegated Flycatcher: Makes a gently whistled, high "zreeeee." Also utters an abrasive "chee-chee-chuuuuuuu."
Similar Species
Variegated Flycatcher: Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher is larger, has brighter yellow underparts more heavily streaked with brown, more rufous on tail and rump, and wider moustache stripe.