Feature | Piratic Flycatcher | Variegated Flycatcher |
size (BOSA; BOE; BOP; BONSA) in inches | 5.75; 5.75; 6; c.5.9 | 7-7.25; 7.25; 6.5-7; c.7.1 |
bill | short, broad, all-dark with bulge of feathering onto underside of mandible | medium, not broad, contrastingly paler at base of mandible with no bulge of feathering on underside of mandible |
face pattern | moustacial stripes start narrow, flaring in lower half; dark mask broad such that depth of mask below the eye is about equal to the depth of the eye (or broader) | moustacial stripes wedge-shaped, starting to broaden almost immediately; dark mask narrow such that depth of mask below the eye less than half the depth of the eye |
upperparts | unstreaked brown or brown-olive - never looks rather marbled or grizzled and at most has very fine indistinct partial pale fringing on some feathers, only visible at close range and then looking scaly rather than streaked | with variably distinct pale grayish blurry streaks - often looks rather marbled or grizzled even at a distance, appearing softly streaked rather than scaled |
tail | short; thin rufous edging to uppertail coverts and outer edges at the base of the tail feathers; juveniles can show more extensive rufous edging in the tail | longish; uppertail coverts with broad conspicuous rufous fringes, also rufous edging in tail feathers thicker and more extensive |
wing coverts | typically with thin pale distal fringing; when worn, lacks wing bars - somewhat similar to a Wood-Pewee. NOTE: some individuals may have thicker tips, almost matching the average for VARFL | when fresh has thick pale tips to coverts forming obvious wing bars; when worn can appear almost as thin as fresh bars of PIRFL - somewhat similar to Empids |
primary tips | outer four primaries with obvious but "normal" shape such that each tip is broad - virtually the same width as the inner primaries and secondaries | outer four primaries with severe notching on the inner web such that each feather ends in a short narrow "finger" - much narrower than the tips of the inner primaries and secondaries - somewhat like the outer primaries of a Buteo hawk, or the outermost primary of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird |
folded primaries and secondaries | averages less distinct pale edging on secondaries, and no rufous tinge to basal edges of primaries | averages more distinct pale edging on secondaries, and often with a rufous tinge to basal edges of primaries |
BOSA =
Birds of South America vol 1; suboscine passerines
BOE = Birds of Ecuador
BOP = Birds of Peru
BONSA = Birds of Northern South America
Thanks to Chris Benesh I can show you some images that demonstrate some of the above features:
Piratic Flycatcher | Variegated Flycatcher |
- note the broad-tipped outer primaries of the right wing |
- note the pointed outer primaries of the left wing |
- note the bulge of feathering into the base of the mandible |
- note no bulge of feathering into the base of the mandible |