flycatcher

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of various small birds that characteristically catch flying insects, especially members of the Old World family Muscicapidae or the New World family Tyrannidae

   The flycatcher darted from its perch and seized a moth in midair.

A compound of fly + catcher, named for the birds' habit of taking insects in flight. The common name is applied to several superficially similar bird families in the Old and New Worlds rather than to one single taxonomic group.

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