What type of bird is a scissor-tailed flycatcher?
Q: What type of bird is a scissor-tailed flycatcher?
A: The scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) is a type of bird that lives in North America, in the United States and Mexico.
Q: What does the scissor-tailed flycatcher eat?
A: The scissor-tailed flycatcher eats insects.
Q: How does the scissor-tailed flycatcher get its name?
A: The scissor-tailed flycatcher is named "scissor-tailed" because its tail looks like a pair of scissors.
Q: Where can you find scissortails in Oklahoma?
A: In Oklahoma, scissortails can be found on open prairies, along tree-lined roads, and along roadsides perched on fences, limbs and in isolated trees.
Q: What kind of performance do male scissortails put on during spring and early summer?
A: Male scissortails perform their famous "sky dance," which involves climbing about 100 feet in the air before making a series of V-shaped flights followed by an erratic zigzag course often somersaulting while uttering a rolling, cackling call.
Q: How high up do they usually nest?
A: Scissortail Flycatchers usually nest 7–30 feet above ground in an isolated tree.
Q: What are some distinguishing features of this bird species?
A: Scissors tailed Flycatchers are easily identified by their long scissor like tail which may reach nine inches long. During flight they open their tails like a pair of scissors and fold or close them when perching. They have pearl gray napes and backs with white breasts and sooty black wings with scarlet at the shoulders.
