Grey Silky-flycatcher

Fascinating facts about the Grey Silky-flycatcher

• The grey silky-flycatcher is 18.5–21 cm long, has a prominent crest and tail feathers that are black at the base with a white upper half and black lower half.
• Four subspecies of the grey silky-flycatcher are found from southern Coahuila in Mexico to south-central Guatemala, each differing slightly in plumage coloration.
• When mistletoe berries ripen, the flycatcher will perch high and pluck the fruit straight from the branch, while also snatching insects mid-air. Watching a flock of up to 15 individuals juggle fruit and bugs at once reveals how versatile their diet really is, blending plant and animal foods in the same feeding bout.
• Breeding pairs build open cup nests lined with Usnea lichen and wrapped in leafy lichen, and lay a clutch of two eggs.
• Although assessed as Least Concern, the species still loses over 4,000 individuals each year to the legal cage-bird trade. That figure reminds us that even abundant birds aren’t immune to human demand, and that monitoring trade can be crucial before numbers start to slip.

At a glance

About the Grey Silky-flycatcher

The grey silky-flycatcher (Ptiliogonys cinereus) glides through the pine-oak and juniper forests of Mexico and Guatemala with a sleek, 18.5-to-21 cm silhouette crowned by a prominent crest. Adult males of the nominate subspecies display a striking blue-gray head edged by a white eye-ring and a contrasting white or brownish-white chin, while their long tails are a dramatic montage of black bases, white upper halves and black lower halves. Females wear a softer gray crown and brownish flanks, and juveniles echo the female’s palette but with paler underparts. Across its range the bird’s plumage subtly shifts: subspecies molybdophanes bears deeper bluish-gray upperparts and olive-green flanks, whereas pallescens is paler and grayer, each variant a nuanced brushstroke on the same canvas. In the subtropical and temperate zones, from 1,000 m to over 3,500 m, the species favors pine, pine-oak, and juniper woodlands, occasionally venturing into pine savanna and rarely into cloudforest. It feeds on insects captured in mid-air from high perches and plucks mistletoe berries while perched, often foraging in flocks of up to fifteen. Its vocal repertoire ranges from a warbled series of chuck notes to a loud “tu-whip, tu-whip” with a higher second note, and a rattling note that punctuates its flight, a surprising acoustic signature that hints at a social complexity rarely associated with such a modest-sized passerine.

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