Dark-faced Ground Tyrant
Muscisaxicola maclovianus
The dark-faced ground tyrant is 15 to 16.5 cm (5.9 to 6.5 in) long. The two subspecies and both sexes have the same plumage, though subspecies M. m. mentalis is significantly smaller than the nominate. Adults have a blackish forehead, lores, and cheeks and a dull chestnut-brown crown. Their upperparts are mostly dark brown to smoky brown with a black lower rump. Their wings are a duskier brown than the upperparts. Their tail is black with whitish edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat and breast are gray and their belly and crissum white. Voice: As of April 2025 xeno-canto had six recordings of dark-faced ground tyrant vocalizations; the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had 18 with some overlap between the two. The species' song is "reported as a warbling series of notes". During the flight display males call "a discreet zilip". Its alarm calls include "a series of loud cheep and rapid tu or chee-tú" notes.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant
Muscisaxicola rufivertex
The rufous-naped ground tyrant is 15.5 to 18 cm (6.1 to 7.1 in) long and weighs about 19 to 22 g (0.67 to 0.78 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. r. rufivertex have a bright cinnamon or orange-rufous patch on the crown and a faint white supercilium and broken eye-ring on an otherwise pale gray head. Their upperparts are also mostly pale gray, with a black lower rump. Their wings are a dusky gray. Their tail is dusky with thin white edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat and belly are whitish and their breast pale gray. Voice: As of April 2025 xeno-canto had four recordings of rufous-naped ground tyrant vocalizations; the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had eleven including one of the xeno-canto recordings. Subspecies M. r. occipitalis makes a "sharply upslurred but melodious weet" call. The nominate subspecies and M. r.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dark-faced Ground Tyrant and Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant.