From Opus

Male
Photo by Glen Tepke
Soberania National Park, Panama, January 2004

Cercomacra tyrannina

[edit] Identification

14.5cm
Male

• Grey to blackish upperparts
• Lower parts paler in some subspecies
• Two white wing bars
• Tiny white tip to tail
• Young males for the first year has a subdued plumage

Female

• Brown above
• Rufous-cinnamon below

Both sexes possess a white area on the back that is normally covered, but which can be revealed in territorial display.

Variation: subspecies varies in how dark the male is, from almost black to pale grey in Brazil. Subspecies saturatior which is very dark will show white fringes to feathers on the belly.

[edit] Similar species

Blackish Antbird overlaps in range in the Guianas; Jet Antbird in Panama

[edit] Distribution

From southeastern Mexico through Central America to Panama; in South America west of Andes to western Ecuador, in northern Colombia, and east of the andes in the lowlands north of Amazon river to The Guianas and Brazil.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• C. t. crepera:

• South-eastern Mexico to western Panama

• C. t. tyrannina:

• Central Panama to eastern Colombia, southern Venezuela and north-western Brazil

• C. t. vicina:

• Eastern slope of Eastern Andes of northern Colombia and north-western Venezuela

• C. t. vicina:

• The Guianas and north-eastern Amazonian Brazil

[edit] Habitat

Wet forest.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

A deep, small cup shaped nest is built from plant material and dead leaves. The clutch consists of 2 white eggs with red brown spots. Both adults incubate and raise the young.

The youngsters will stay on their parents territory for almost a year, until the start of next breeding season, unless a vacancy appears in a nearby territory.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: whistled kick
Song: male - pu pu pe pi pi the female responds with juu-ut juu-ut juu-ut juu-ut juu-ut.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
3. Morton & Stutchbury (2001): Behavioral Ecology of Tropical Birds. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-675556-6
4. Ridgely and Tudor 2009. Field guide to the songbirds of South America - The Passerines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8
5. Wikipedia

[edit] External Links