Bird Guide

Cinnamon-bellied Ground Tyrant vs Paramo Ground Tyrant

Cinnamon-bellied Ground Tyrant (Muscisaxicola capistratus)

Cinnamon-bellied Ground Tyrant

Muscisaxicola capistratus

Small27 gGrassland

The cinnamon-bellied ground tyrant is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black forecrown and a bright rufous-chestnut mid- and hindcrown. Their face, nape, and upperparts are dusky gray or brownish gray. Their wings are dusky with pale white edges on the flight feathers. Their tail is black with whitish edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat is whitish, their breast grayish buff, and their belly cinnamon-rufous or rufous-buff that is darker on the flanks and vent area. Voice: As of April 2025 xeno-canto had seven recordings of cinnamon-bellied ground tyrant vocalizations, all by a single recordist in Argentina on January 20, 2002. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had five including one of the xeno-canto recordings. The species' vocalizations include a "high-pitched wee tee, wee tee tee and wee tee tee tee longer weetee weetee weeteewee wee wee".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: María Regina Silva · CC BY 4.0
Paramo Ground Tyrant (Muscisaxicola alpinus)

Paramo Ground Tyrant

Muscisaxicola alpinus

Small26 gGrassland

The paramo ground tyrant is 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a sepia-brown crown, dusky lores, a wide white supercilium that extends past the eye, and a small white patch below the eye. Their nape and back are grayish brown. Their wings are a duskier grayish brown with some pale edges on the coverts. Their tail is blackish with thin white edges on the outermost feathers. Their underparts are grayish white that is darker on the breast than on the throat and belly. Voice: As of April 2025 xeno-canto had 10 recordings of ochre-naped ground tyrant vocalizations. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had only three, all of which are also on xeno-canto. The species is "enerally quiet, though occasionally gives a soft tik note".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cinnamon-bellied Ground Tyrant and Paramo Ground Tyrant.