Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
While camping alongside the Colorado River taking the dogs for a walk I looked up to see this very bright coloured bird that was hard to miss sitting up in a tree. He was so beautiful I was glad that I usually carry my camera with me. This is the first time I have ever seen this bird so I was pretty excited to capture a lot of different pictures of him on my camera.
This little stocky bird is known as a Vermilion Fly Catcher, his scientific name is Pyrocephalus which means ” Fire-Headed” which is very well suited to him. His color is like a very bright orangey -red, a dark brown mask goes around his eyes. His back, wings, and tail are also the same brown color as his mask. The female of course has less color, and I am not sure if I have seen her yet as there are other birds here that could fit her description, she has soft grey brown wings and the stomach is a lightly coloured salmon -red. The courting of the Vermilion Flycatcher is very sweet, bringing his future mate presents like Butterflies and Insects that are very shiny. He will fly into the air about 60-100 feet in a very elaborate display while in flight singing a flight song, if the female likes this she will fly up to him and they will look for a nest site. The female will be the one that incubates the eggs which could be 2-4. The male will hunt for the food and bring it to the nest, both male and female will feed the young. The food for these birds consists of flying insects like Honey Bees, Crickets, Beetles, Butterflies, Flies, Grasshoppers, with the larger prey like the grasshoppers and butterflies, the flycatcher will hit them hard against a tree perch which subdues the insect and will make it softer for the flycatcher to eat. They will catch the flying insect by a wing flying out unexpectedly from the perch they were on using a swoop that is very swift, the the flycatcher will circle in a loop then eats them on the same perch the flycatcher was sitting on before, which could be about 10 feet off the ground.
When these birds are not breeding they are more solitary, but there are times that you could see a small flock of males hanging out together in the winter.
Although the normal area where they can be found in the wetlands of the Southwest every once in awhile you will find them out of their range as they tend to wander away from their homelands and have at times been spotted in places like Minnesota, Maryland and even in British Columbia.
On record the oldest known Vermilion Flycatcher was a male that was about 4 years and 6 months old when found in Mexico where he had also been banded.
