Great Shrike-Tyrant vs Lesser Shrike-Tyrant

Great Shrike-Tyrant

Agriornis lividus

Medium99 gShrubland

The great shrike-tyrant is the largest species of tyrant flycatcher, weighing an average of about 99 g (3.5 oz). It is 26 to 28 cm (10 to 11 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly grayish brown head with some whitish on the lores and a cinnamon tinge on the ear coverts. Their upperparts are grayish brown. Their wings are mostly a duskier grayish brown with pale brown edges on the flight feathers. Their tail is mostly black with buffy white tips and edges of the outer webs of the outer feathers. Their throat is white with heavy black streaks. Voice: The great shrike-tyrant is usually quiet. It does make "t-eek or t-eek-ek" calls.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

Lesser Shrike-Tyrant

Agriornis murinus

Small30 gShrubland

The lesser shrike-tyrant is 16 to 18.5 cm (6.3 to 7.3 in) long. Adult males have a gray-brown crown, mottled blackish and white lores, and a whitish or buffy supercilium and eye-ring. Their upperparts are gray-brown. Their wings are mostly dusky with whitish tips on the coverts and whitish edges on the inner flight feathers. Their tail is mostly dusky with pale grayish to white outer webs on the outermost pair pair of feathers. Their throat is white with thin black streaks, their breast very pale grayish brown, their flanks pale grayish brown with a buff tinge, and their belly creamy whitish. Voice: As of May 2025 xeno-canto had a single recording of a lesser shrike-tyrant call; the Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library had it and 11 others. The species is usually silent but makes "an occasional phooeeay descending" call.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Diego Carús · CC0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Shrike-Tyrant and Lesser Shrike-Tyrant.