Bird Guide

Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant vs White-browed Ground Tyrant

Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant (Muscisaxicola rufivertex)

Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant

Muscisaxicola rufivertex

Small20 gGrassland

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

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
White-browed Ground Tyrant (Muscisaxicola albilora)

White-browed Ground Tyrant

Muscisaxicola albilora

Small23 gGrassland

The white-browed ground tyrant is 15 to 17.5 cm (5.9 to 6.9 in) long and weighs about 25 to 29 g (0.88 to 1.0 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a tawny forecrown, a rufous hindcrown, and a long thin white supercilium. Their upperparts are brownish gray. Their wings are dusky gray. Their tail is black with whitish edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat, breast, and belly are pale gray and their crissum whitish. They have a dark brown iris, a long dusky bill, and dusky legs and feet. Voice: The white-browed ground tyrant appears to be more vocal than other ground tyrants. The most common vocalization (or most commonly recorded) is "a high-pitched...short, slightly rising tset or tseek, with some variation". During the courtship flight males make a "clet ip" call. What appears to be the species' alarm call is a "high-pitched, short and abrupt tsip".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the White-browed Ground Tyrant
Recorded by steve · Call · Natales (near Puerto Prat), Última Esperanza, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena, Chile · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Julia Ariadna · CC0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant and White-browed Ground Tyrant.