Rusty-margined Flycatcher

The rusty-margined flycatcher is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 22 to 29.5 g (0.78 to 1.0 oz). The sexes have the same plumage, though females average slightly smaller than males. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. c. cayanensis have a dark sooty brown to blackish brown crown with a mostly hidden bright yellow to golden-orange patch in the center. They have a white supercilium that begins on the forehead and extends far past the eye; the rest of their face is dark sooty brown to blackish brown. Their upperparts are plain brown to olive-brown. Their wings are deep grayish brown with dull olive edges on the inner secondaries, thin rusty or cinnamon-rufous edges on the outer secondaries and inner primaries, and thin rufous margins on the rest of the primaries. Their tail is dusky brownish with light olive edges on the feathers. Their chin and throat are white and their underparts are bright yellow. Juveniles are similar to adults but with no yellow on the crown and more rusty-cinnamon edges on the wing and tail feathers. The other subspecies of the rusty-margined flycatcher differ from the nominate and each other thus:

M. c. rufipennis: wider and bolder rufous on the wings and tail than nominate M. c. hellmayri: paler with more olivaceous upperparts and less rufous on the primaries than nominate M. c. …

The subspecies of the rusty-margined flycatcher are found thus:

M. c. rufipennis: Venezuela north of the Orinoco River and south through eastern Colombia and most of eastern Ecuador M. c. hellmayri: Pacific slope of Panama in Chiriquí and Veraguas provinces; from the Panama Canal Zone into western Colombia and south through western Ecuador and into northern Colombia, and east into western Venezuela's Maracaibo Basin, Zulia, and the western slope of the Andes from Táchira to Lara M. c. cayanensis: from southern Venezuela east across the Guianas and northern Brazil and south through Brazil (except the western Amazon Basin) to Mato Grosso do Sul, southeastern Peru's Madre de Dios Department, northern Bolivia, and extreme eastern Paraguay M. c. erythropterus: Rio de Janeiro and southern and eastern Minas Gerais states in southeastern Brazil In addition there are at least three records of M. c. hellmayri in far southern Costa Rica and it has nested there. The species has also occurred as a vagrant in Argentina. The rusty-margined flycatcher inhabits a variety of partially open landscapes. These include cultivated areas, clearings and pastures with shrubs, gallery forest, and the edges of more extensive forest. In the Amazon Basin it also occurs along rivers and oxbow lakes. In some areas it occurs in ranches, parks, and gardens but tends to stay away from human habitations there. …

The rusty-margined flycatcher feeds mostly on insects and also includes small fruits in its diet. It usually forages in pairs and sometimes in small groups. It usually perches in the open and takes much prey with sallies to the ground or vegetation and in mid-air by hawking; often the sallies are over water. It usually takes fruit by gleaning or snatching while briefly hovering.