Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant

Cnemarchus erythropygius

Attractive gray and chestnut flycatcher with obvious white wing patches. It inhabits high mountains at or above treeline, in open areas where there are only scattered trees and bushes. Sits conspicuously on treetops, posts, wires, and other elevated perches, from which it sallies out to chase insects. It gives a querulous whistle that can be heard over long distances. A scarce bird, but its preference for open habitats and its conspicuous behavior can make it fairly easy to track down if one is present in the area.

Identification

The adult red-rumped bush tyrant is about 23 cm (9 in) long. It has a narrow beak and distinctive colouring. The fore crown is white dappled with grey, and the hind-crown and nape are grey. There is an indistinct pale streak above the eye. The back, mantle, wings and tail are slatey-brown, with the rump and base of the outer tail feathers rufous. There are two white streaks on the wings. The throat is streaked in grey and white, the breast is grey and the belly rufous.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Cnemarchus erythropygius
Authority
(Sclater, PL, 1853)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Tyrannidae
Genus
Cnemarchus

Range and habitat

The red-rumped bush tyrant is native to mountainous regions in South America. Its range includes the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and in the Andes in Norte de Santander Department and Cundinamarca State in northern and central Colombia, and the mountains of Ecuador, eastern Peru and western Bolivia. It occurs mostly in open areas with scattered trees and shrubs, at altitudes between 3,000 and 4,000 m (9,800 and 13,100 ft).

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Puerto Rican Emerald

Puerto Rican Emerald

Riccordia maugaeus

A lively inhabitant of most wooded habitats, coffee plantations, and gardens. The long-tailed male is distinctive in being entirely iridescent green, although can radiate blue at certain angles and lighting. Male Green-throated Carib and Green Mango can also appear entirely green, however both are larger, with longer and strongly curved bills. The female Puerto Rican Emerald is metallic green above, dingy white below, and has a relatively long, forked tail. Its face is typically blackish with a small white spot behind the eye. The similar Antillean Crested Hummingbird has a shorter bill, lacks the black in face and the spot behind the eye, and it has a rounded tail. The emerald's song is a rapid twittering and the common call is a high thin metallic "tsip" given singly or in series.​

Himalayan Prinia

Himalayan Prinia

Prinia crinigera

A rather dull-plumaged songbird of fields, grasslands, forest edges, and farmland, mostly at moderate and high elevations. Often sparsely distributed and difficult to find. Gray-brown above with a pale belly and blackish streaking on head and wings. Breeding males become black-billed and darker on the face, losing the pale eyebrow that is usually shown in other plumages. Typically found singly or in pairs, clambering about in grasses and shrubbery. Often sings from an exposed perch, giving a loud but dry, rolling series of notes, slower than the song of Striped Prinia. Visually very similar to Striped Prinia, but usually separated by range. In the area of overlap, female and non-breeding male Himalayan Prinias show weaker streaking on the back and a duller rufous panel in the wings. Breeding males are distinguished by their darker faces without an eye-stripe. Also similar to Burmese Prinia, but there is little or no overlap in range, and Himalayan Prinia is distinguished by having more streaking, especially along the sides of the breast.

Black-eared Sparrow-Lark

Black-eared Sparrow-Lark

Eremopterix australis

A small, compact finch-like sociable lark that is nomadic, and often irrupts in large numbers after good rains. The sexes differ in plumage: the distinctive male is mostly black, including under the wings, with chestnut-sprinkled upperparts; the female is reddish-brown above and streaked underneath. Small to medium-sized flocks (often mixed with Gray-backed Sparrow-Lark) can appear in grassy shrubland in the Karoo and Kalahari, where dark males are conspicuous when they fly up on broad wings and flap slowly in the fashion of a butterfly. They drop to the ground and land on bare patches, where they shuffle along foraging for seeds and insects. The female Black-eared Sparrow-Lark is told apart from other female sparrow-larks by its all-dark underwings in flight and the lack of a black belly patch.

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