Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra) | Photos and ID

LCLeast ConcernInvertebrates

Shrubland36 g

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 1 — Photo: ingen rettigheder forbeholdt, uploadet af Hugo Hulsberg · cc0

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 2 — Photo: (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 3 — Photo: (c) Pablo H Capovilla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 4 — Photo: (c) Valentín Alfano, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 5 — Photo: (c) María Zeta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 6 — Photo: (c) Leonel Roget, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 7 — Photo: (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 8 — Photo: (c) Ariadna Tripaldi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 9 — Photo: (c) Pablo H Capovilla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Rusty-backed Monjita (Neoxolmis rubetra), photo 10 — Photo: (c) Luciano Massa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

ID tip

The rusty-backed monjita is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long. Adult males have a rufescent crown and a long white supercilium on an otherwise black-streaked white face. Their upperparts are mostly rufescent or rufous-brown with a grayish white rump. Their wings are mostly black. Their wing's greater and median coverts have grayish white edges and tips, the lesser coverts are rufescent, and the tertials have white edges. Their tail is mostly black with white outer webs on the three outer pairs of feathers. Voice: As of May 2025 xeno-canto had a single recording of a rusty-backed monjita vocalization; the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had it and one other. The species' song has not been described.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Rusty-backed Monjita

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 9 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Rusty-backed Monjita

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 1 country with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Argentina

Recorded as a rare visitor in Chile.

About the Rusty-backed Monjita

The rusty-backed monjita is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is endemic to Argentina but has been recorded as a vagrant in Brazil and Chile.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Salinas MonjitaNeoxolmis salinarumThe salinas monjita is about 16.5 cm (6.5 in) long.

Chocolate-vented TyrantNeoxolmis rufiventrisThe chocolate-vented tyrant is 20 to 23 cm (7.9 to 9.1 in) long and weighs about 77 g (2.7 oz).

Black-crowned MonjitaNeoxolmis coronatusThe black-crowned monjita is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 40 to 53 g (1.4 to 1.9 oz).

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