Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay (B), Venezuela.
Vagrant to Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon, St Vincent and The Grenadines, USA (B).
Population
Estimated population is 5,000,000 - 50,000,000 (2010).
Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) [XC422125]
by David Monroy Rengifo from Terez\u00f3polis de Goi\u00e1s, Fazenda Santa Branca Ecoturismo, Goi\u00e1s, Brazil (song)
Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) [XC518799]
by Caio Brito from Reserva do Setor S\u00edtio de Recreio Cara\u00edbas-Goi\u00e2nia, Goi\u00e1s, Brazil (song)
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; 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. Considered closest relative of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), 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 suggest that it belongs to a clade within the "tropical species assemblage" that also includes White-throated Kingbird (Tyrannus albogularis) and Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii), although relationships among these three species remain uncertain.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
monachus Hartlaub, 1844 - Southern Mexico (central and southern Veracruz, northern Oaxaca, north-eastern Chiapas, Tabasco, south-western Campeche) south to Colombia (except north, but generally east of Andes south to Meta and Vichada) and much of Venezuela (east to Orinoco Delta, south to northern Amazonas and northern Bolívar, and several offshore islands). Also southern Surinam (Sipaliwini) and north-central Brazil (Roraima, lower R Negro, perhaps Amapá).
sanctaemartae (Zimmer, JT, 1937) - Northern Colombia (Caribbean coastal region and Santa Marta Mts area) and extreme north-western Venezuela (north-western Zulia).
circumdatus (Zimmer, JT, 1937) - Northern Brazil in eastern Amazonas (occasionally west to Manaus) and Pará and Amapá (southern bank R Amazonas, islands near Santarém, and both banks of R Tapajós).
savana Vieillot, 1808 - Central, southern and south-eastern Brazil (Rondônia and southern Mato Grosso east to Tocantins and southern Piauí, south to Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janerio and Rio Grande do Sul), northern and eastern Boliva, Paraguay, Argentina (south to Río Negro, occasionally to north-eastern Chubut and even Patagonia) and Uruguay.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet