| Long-tailed tyrant | |
|---|---|
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| InParque Nacional do Itatiaia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Tyrannidae |
| Genus: | Colonia J.E. Gray, 1828 |
| Species: | C. colonus |
| Binomial name | |
| Colonia colonus (Vieillot, 1818) | |
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Thelong-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus) is a species ofbird in the familyTyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Central America from Honduras to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.[2]
The long-tailed tyrant wasoriginally described asMuscicapa colonus, erroneously including it in theOld World flycatcher family.[3]
The long-tailed tyrant is the only member of genusColonia. It has these five subspecies:[2]
Male long-tailed tyrants are 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11 in) and females 18 to 22 cm (7.1 to 8.7 in) long; these measurements do not include the elongated central tail feathers. Adults weigh 15 to 18 g (0.53 to 0.63 oz). Adult males of thenominate subspeciesC. c. colonus are mostly dull black with a white forehead and forecrown, a whitish rump, and a grayish black belly. Their central pair of tail feathers can extend up to 13 cm (5.1 in) beyond the others and have somewhat widened tips. They are often worn or broken. Adult females are paler and grayer than males, with a darker crown, grayer rump, and shorter tail streamers; their belly is mottled with white. Juveniles are a paler sooty gray than adults with a faint whitish stripe around the crown, a pale gray belly, and central tail feathers that project only slightly beyond the others.[4][5]
The other subspecies of the long-tailed tyrant differ from the nominate and each other thus:[4]
All subspecies have a dark iris, a short, wide, black bill, and black legs and feet.[4]
The long-tailed tyrant has adisjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:[4][13]
The long-tailed tyrant inhabits a variety of semi-open landscapes in the tropical and lower subtropical zones. These include the edges of humid evergreen forest and woodland,gallery forest, earlysuccessional forest, plantations with standing snags, and natural and human-made gaps in the forest interior. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Central America and is mostly below 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in South America.[4][13] It reaches 600 m (2,000 ft) in Honduras and Costa Rica, 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in Colombia, 350 m (1,100 ft) and possibly higher in Venezuela, 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Ecuador, 2,300 m (7,500 ft) in Peru, and is mostly below 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Brazil.[5][7][8][9][10][11][12][excessive citations]
The long-tailed tyrant is a year-round resident in almost its entire range; it is thought to move north from the extreme southern end of it for theaustral winter.[4][13]
The long-tailed tyrant feeds on insects, and in some areas such as Costa Rica specializes in stingless bees.[4] It primarily forages in pairs and sometimes small family groups and does not joinmixed-species feeding flocks. It perches in the open, high on a snag or open branches, and flicks its tail streamers up and down. The perch is often in the same tree as its nest. It takes most prey in mid-air byhawking from the perch and often returns to the same perch after capture.[4][8][9][10][11][12][excessive citations]
The long-tailed tyrant's breeding season has not been defined in most areas. It spans March to July in Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela. In Argentina it apparently includes October to January. Pairs defend a territory around the nest/feeding tree, especially against intrusion by other cavity-nesting species. The nest is a mat of leafrachises in the bottom of a cavity which might be an old woodpecker hole or a rotted knothole in a dead tree, and is anywhere from 8 to 30 m (25 to 100 ft) above the ground. The clutch is two to three eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.[4][10][12]
| Songs and calls |
The long-tailed tyrant's a soft, rising, call variously written as "sweeE",[8] "wheet",[12] "sweee?",[10] "weee?",[11] and "weé-uw".[5] Males sing "a longertwee-la, twee-la, twee-la", a "musical, hummingdruu" while whipping the tail, and a "sharp, sibilantchip in interactions".[4]
TheIUCN has assessed the long-tailed tyrant as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range and its estimated population of at least five million mature individuals is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered fairly common in Honduras and Costa Rica, "locally common" in Colombia, "common but somewhat local" in Venezuela, "fairly common and conspicuous" in Ecuador, and the "characteristic flycatcher" of Peru.[7][8][9][10][11][12][excessive citations] It is "tolerant of converted habitats, and occurs in many national parks and other protected areas throughout its large range".[4]
