The Weekly Chirp: Vermillion Flycatcher

Before we get into our summer beauties, I'd like to point out one more year-round, overlooked, amazing and drop dead gorgeous avian resident!  This bird is an absolute “GASPer”, meaning people “gasp” when they finally zero in on him via binoculars.  I'm talking about the Vermillion Flycatcher.  Though his behaviour is much like that of the last flycatcher we discussed, the Great Kiskadee (find a post, branch, lookout, fly down to swoop up an insect or two, return to post and repeat all day long)!  BUT, the Vermillion Flycatcher is so much smaller, and so much faster, therefore so much easier to miss if you are not looking for him.  His maneuvers and the speed he uses to capture insects in flight somehow seem more deliberate and precise. The Vermillion Flycatcher is about the size of a fluffy golf ball.  But the real “gasper” is his color.  He is an unmistakable vibrant reddish coral, sporting an intense black mask and wings.  The contrast and the beauty of that vermillion color, accented with the sharpness of the deep black markings, is enough to challenge yet mesmerize your visual senses! Once you have “gasped” him, you will never forget him, and you will see him everywhere and all the time!  That, my friend, is very lucky for you!  That little bird just makes you feel good!