- Knipolegus cyanirostris
Identification
14.5-15cm.
Male
- Glossy black plumage
- Bright red eye
- Bluish-white bill with black tip
- Black legs
Female
- Rufous brown upperparts
- Brighter rufous crown
- Rufous rump
- Cinnamon tail-coverts
- Blackish wings with tow buff to cinnamon wingbars
- Dusky tail with rufous edges
- Whitish to yellowish-white below heavily streaked blackish-brown
- Pale red to orange eye
Similar species
Larger and darker overall than Cinereous Tyrant, female larger and with more prominent streaking than Bran-colored Flycatcher.
Distribution
South America: found in south-eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina.
Locally common or abundant, most numerous in southeast Brazil.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
High elevation Atlantic Ombrophylous and mixed forest. Observed at heights up to 6800 feet / 2200m. Often near water.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects. Hunts by salliying or gleans from foliage. Usually seen in pairs, often inconspicuous. Breeding season from November to December in Argentina. The nest is an open cup made of grass and small sticks. It's placed on a branch in a tree, sometimes at outer end. Lays 1 to 3 eggs. Nest parasitism by Shiny Cowbird reported. An austral migrant, birds of southern part of range migrate north to Paraguay and south-central Brazil.
References
- 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
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2004. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334696
- Avibase
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Blue-billed Black Tyrant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Blue-billed_Black_Tyrant
