The Amazonian royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) is a passerine bird in the family Tityridae according to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). It is found in throughout most of the Amazon basin in northern Bolivia, eastern Peru, eastern Ecuador, eastern Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern and western Brazil.
Description: The Amazonian royal flycatcher is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs 9.7 to 14 g (0.34 to 0.49 oz). It is dark brown above and dark buffy yellow below. The rump and tail are reddish cinnamon. The bill is long and broad. It has an erectile fan-shaped crest that is red in the male and yellow-orange in the female.
Distribution and habitat: The nominate subspecies of the Amazonian royal flycatcher is found in southern and eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and in Brazil east of the Rio Negro and Rio Tapajós. O. c. castelnaui is found east of the Andes in western Amazonia, from southeastern Colombia and Venezuela’s Amazonas state south through Ecuador into Peru and northern Bolivia and east in Brazil to the Rio Negro and Rio Tapajós.
The Amazonian royal flycatcher inhabits humid lowlands, both primary evergreen and second growth forests. It is a bird of the midstory, often along streams and in seasonally flooded várzea forest.
Feeding: All of the royal flycatchers are insectivorous.
Breeding: The Amazonian royal flycatcher’s breeding season has not been established. Their nest is long and narrow and is suspended from a branch or vine, usually above water. The clutch is two eggs; only the female incubates them and broods and feeds the nestlings.
Vocalization: The Amazonian royal flycatcher is usually inconspicuous and quiet. Its song is “a descending, slowing series of plaintive whistles” and its call a repeated “keeeyup or keee-yew”.
Status: The IUCN has assessed the Amazonian royal flycatcher as being of Least Concern.However, all of the royal flycatchers “are vulnerable to forest loss or degradation”.
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