Long-tailed Tyrant - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies
Photo © by bievreJJ
Itapira, SP, Brazil, August 2018

Colonia colonus

Identification

Photo by John Keep
Manu Road, Peru, October, 2003

Male 23–28 cm (9-11 in); female 18–22 cm (7-8¾ in)

Dull black overall plumage
White forehead and crown
Two, very elongated (12 cms - 5") central tail feathers
White patch on the rump

Distribution

Central and South America:
Central America: found in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina

Taxonomy

Subspecies

This is a polytypic species consisting of five subspecies^[1]:

C. c. leuconota:

South East Honduras and eastern Nicaragua to western Colombia and western Ecuador

C. c. fuscicapillus:

East Andes of Colombia, northern Ecuador and extreme north-eastern Peru

C. c. poecilonota:

South East Venezuela (eastern Bolívar) and the Guianas

C. c. niveiceps:

South East Ecuador, Peru (San Martín to northern Puno) and northern Bolivia

C. c. colonus:

Central and eastern Brazil (southern Maranhão) to eastern Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina

Habitat

Tropical humid forest borders and secondary woodland. Also edges of gallery forest.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of a variety of insects.

Breeding

They build their nest in a hole or cavity in a tree.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Avibase
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Aug 2018)

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Long-tailed Tyrant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Long-tailed_Tyrant

External Links

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