Variegated Flycatcher

The variegated flycatcher is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long and weighs about 25 g (0.88 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a blackish or blackish brown crown with a mostly hidden yellow patch in the center, a long white supercilium that extends almost around the nape, a wide dusky band from the lores to the ear coverts, and whitish cheeks with a dusky band below them. Their upperparts are mostly dusky or dark brownish with pale whitish streaks that give a mottled appearance. Their rump is darker brown with rufous edges on the feathers and their uppertail coverts are rufous. Their tail is dark brown or blackish with rufous feather edges. Their wings are dusky with wide white edges on the coverts and flight feathers. Their throat is dingy whitish and the rest of their underparts are yellowish white. Their breast and sides have indistinct darker streaks. Subspecies E. v. rufinus is smaller than the nominate with paler, more brownish upperparts with more olivaceous streaks and less bold streaking on the underparts. Juveniles do not have the adults' crown patch and have unstreaked underparts. Both subspecies have a dark iris, a blackish bill with a pale pinkish base to the mandible, and black legs and feet.

Subspecies E. v. rufinus of the variegated flycatcher is the more northerly of the two. It is found on Trinidad, in the Venezuelan Andes and coastal mountains, and in south and east of the country. From Venezuela its range continues east through the Guianas and northern and eastern Brazil east to the Atlantic in Pará, southeast to Bahia, and in the southwest almost to Bolivia. The nominate subspecies is found in southwestern Venezuela; eastern Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; central and eastern Bolivia; central and southern Brazil; Paraguay; Uruguay; and northern Argentina at least as far south as Entre Ríos Province. In addition it has been documented in the U.S. states of Florida, Maine, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington and in Ontario Province. The variegated flycatcher inhabits a variety of somewhat open landscapes. These include the edges of primary forest, secondary and gallery forest, savanna with scattered shrubs and trees, large clearings, and sometimes parks. In migration it occasionally is found in the crown of unbroken terra firme forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Brazil. It reaches 400 m (1,300 ft) in Colombia, 500 m (1,600 ft) in Ecuador, and 500 m (1,600 ft) in Peru. In Venezuela north of the Orinoco River it reaches 1,900 m (6,200 ft) and south of it 1,300 m (4,300 ft).

The variegated flycatcher feeds primarily on insects but also includes fruit in its diet; the migrants are thought to consume more fruit on their wintering grounds. It usually forages singly but occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It perches in the open, usually up to the forest's mid-level but occasionally in a tree top. It takes most insect prey on the wing by hawking from the perch. It takes fruit and some insects from foliage while briefly hovering after a sally from the perch.