When I was twelve, I went hunting with my father and we shot a bird…

He was laying there and something struck me. Why do we call this fun to kill this creature who was as happy as I was when I woke up this morning?

A Marv Levy quotation

Phainopepla nitens: Have you seen this bird?

Phainopepla

The Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) is the most northerly representative of the mainly tropical Central American family Ptilogonatidae, the silky flycatchers.

The Phainopepla ranges as far north as central California and southern Utah, south to central Mexico, the interior Mexican Plateau region, with the transverse mountains there being its non-breeding home.

Identification Tips:
• Length: 6.25 inches
• Short, thin bill
• Dark crest
• Males have entirely black plumage, females gray
• White wing patches visible in flight
• Long tail
• Juveniles are similar to females

Similar species:

The Phainopepla is unlikely to be confused with any other species.

It is found in hot areas, and is readily seen in the deserts of Arizona and southern California; also the Baja Peninsula, and Baja California Sur where they are only breeding resident birds.

The Phainopepla eat berries, small insects, fruits, and vegetables. Phainopepla have a specialized mechanism in their gizzard that shucks berry skins off the fruit and packs the skins separately from the rest of the fruit into the intestines for more efficient digestion.

They nest in the spring. The eggs are gray or pink and speckled, and the incubation, done by both the male and female, takes fifteen days.

Phainopeplas have been found to imitate the calls of twelve other species, such as the Red-tailed Hawk, and the Northern Flicker.