Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Vagrant to Dominican Republic.
Breeds in south-central USA (south-eastern Colorado, southern Nebraska and south-western Missouri south to eastern New Mexico and western Louisiana) south to north-eastern Mexico (northern Coahuila, central Nuevo León, northern Tamaulipas). Winters southern Mexico (Atlantic slope from southern Veracruz to western Campeche, Pacific slope from Guerrero, and interior Chiapas), El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua south to central Costa Rica and rarely western Panama; also southern Florida.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 7,900,000 (2010).
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) [XC247701]
by Terry Davis from Ashland City, Cheatham County, Tennessee, United States (song)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) [XC432966]
by Dany Sloan from Rogers, Benton County, Arkansas, United States (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Closest relatives of genus may be Empidonomus and Tyrannopsis. Recent molecular-sequence data indicate present genus is monophyletic and sister-group to clade that includes Empidonomus and Griseotyrannus. There are two main clades within genus, loosely corresponding to "tropical species assemblage" and combination of "W" and "E" species groups of earlier authors, but with some exceptions. Long considered closest to Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana), mainly due to tail-streamers, and both previously separated in subgenus Muscivora (and earlier in genus Milvulus). This affinity not supported by molecular-sequence data. Phylogenetic analyses indicate clade including this species and Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) within "eastern and western species group" that also includes Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) and perhaps Loggerhead Kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus) and/or Giant Kingbird (Tyrannus cubensis).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet