Black-tailed Tityra
Tityra cayana
Large, chunky, short-tailed, and black-and-white species of the canopy in forests and second growth. Usually seen in pairs. Males are mostly white with a black head, tail, and wings. Note the red skin around the eyes and the black bill with a red base. Females are heavily streaked on the back, neck, and underparts with a brownish head and back. The song is a nasal croaking “guik.”
Identification
This is a robust, short-tailed bird with a long, hook-tipped bill; like other tityras, it has a peculiar vestigial ninth primary feather. The adult black-tailed tityra is 20–22 centimetres (7.9–8.7 in) long and weighs 60–70 grams (2.1–2.5 oz). The male is dull white above and white below. The rectrices, the primary and secondary remiges and a cap extending to below the eyes are black; the tertiary remiges are silvery grey. Females have dark brown rather than black on wings and tail and some brown pattern on head, back and underside. In both sexes, there is a patch of rosy-red bare skin around the eye, extending to the bill which is red-based with a black tip. The iris and feet are dark. The juvenile plumage is unknown.<p>This species has a buzzing short call rendered as ed, rek, urd or wenk. A double beeza-buzza and triple weenk, weenk, weenk are also given. It more frequently calls in flight than when perched.
Taxonomy
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-tailed tityra in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne in French Guiana. He used the French name La pie-griesche gris de Cayenne and the Latin name Lanius Cayanensis cinereus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the black-tailed tityra. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius cayanus and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus Tityra, which was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.<p>Two subspecies are recognized; they are sometimes treated as distinct species but widely intergrade where their ranges meet:
- Scientific name
- Tityra cayana
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Tityridae
- Genus
- Tityra
Range and habitat
This bird is found as a year-round resident in forest edges, second growth and plantation shade trees in the pantanal and cerrado as well as in terra firme and várzea forest, usually below 500 metres (1,600 ft) but occasionally as far up as 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) ASL.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Orange-bellied Leafbird
Chloropsis hardwickii
The only leafbird within its range with an orange belly. Male is unmistakable with a blue-and-black face pattern, a solid orange belly, and green-and-blue wings. Female is green all over with blue cheeks and less extensive orange on the belly. The female can be confused with female Blue-winged Leafbird, but Orange-bellied has an orange belly and more blue on the face than Blue-winged Leafbird. Often moves about quietly in the upper layers of hilly and montane forests, gleaning insects from branches and foraging at fruiting and flowering trees. Frequently incorporates the songs and calls of other species into its vocalizations.
African Dusky Flycatcher
Muscicapa adusta
A small, dumpy, buff-brownish flycatcher with a pale throat, a short eyebrow in front of the eye, a mostly plain crown, and indistinct mottling on the breast. It prefers thicker woodland and the edges of evergreen and riverine forest, perching at lower and middle levels and sallying to catch insects, or occasionally sitting on the ground. High-pitched “tzeet” and “tsirit” calls often betray its presence. The similar migrant Spotted Flycatcher has a longer tail and wings than the African Dusky Flycatcher, and it also has distinct streaking on the crown. The Gambaga Flycatcher is paler and mostly restricted to arid woodland.
Silvery-throated Spinetail
Synallaxis subpudica
A typical-looking spinetail with a very restricted range in central Colombia. Gray-brown overall with a rusty or rufous crown and wings, and a long, spiky grayish tail. Throat looks dark, not silvery. Fairly common in forests, edges, and thickets from around 2,000 to 3,200 m. Skulking and fairly difficult to see. Compare with Azara’s Spinetail, which has a rufous tail. Listen for long descending chatters and chip calls.
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