Ash-Throated Flycatcher Eats a Cnemidophorus Lizard

Abstract

de Mexico, located 59 km north of Barra de Navidad in the Mexican state of Jalisco. I first saw the flycatcher in the top of a rosamorada tree (Tabebuia rosea) that was 4 m tall. It descended to the ground, caught the lizard in its bill, then flew into a nearby mist net. Most of the lizard's body had been swallowed, except for the protruding tail and pelvic limbs. The lizard was a young male with a cloacal/snout length of 28 mm, total length of 65 mm and weight of 2.3 g. The flycatcher, an adult male, is deposited in the bird collection of the Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, (No. 12596) in Mexico City. The stomach contents were examined and consisted of remains of several insects (Diptera) and tezcalama fruits (Ficus sp.). The normal diet of this flycatcher consists primarily of insects but some fruits have been reported in the diet (Stone, 1941; Simon, 1958; Banks, 1963; Land, 1963; Bohlen, 1975). Bent (1963) mentions one other Myiarchus feeding on green anoles (Anolis carolinensis). It seems likely that this feeding pattern was an opportunistic response to the great abundance of these small reptiles and perhaps to the reduction of insects during an exceptionally severe dry sea-