Short-tailed Field Tyrant

Muscigralla brevicauda

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesShrublandCup nestTiny · 13 g

What the Short-tailed Field Tyrant sounds like

Sonogram of the Short-tailed Field Tyrant: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Guayas: Colinas de Engunga, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Short-tailed Field Tyrant: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Guayas: 3 km E Pacoa Beach, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The short-tailed field tyrant is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long; two individuals weighed 13.5 and 11.8 g (0.48 and 0.42 oz). It has very long legs and a very short tail. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a brownish gray head with a short white patch above the lores and a mostly hidden yellow patch in the center of the crown. Their upperparts are mostly brownish gray with a buffy upper rump and rufous chestnut lower rump and uppertail coverts. Voice: One description of the short-tailed field tyrant's song is "a weak, sibilant tizztízzz, sometimes preceded by a few tik notes". Another is "a series of dry, metallic tik or spit notes followed by a buzzy, rising-falling trill: tik tik tik tzzZZZZzzew". Its calls include "a metallic, dry spit! and, when flushed, a sputtering trilled series of spit and trr notes".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Short-tailed Field Tyrant

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is July, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Short-tailed Field Tyrant

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 2 countries with regular records, and 2 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.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Colombia, Chile.

About the Short-tailed Field Tyrant

The short-tailed field tyrant is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Ecuador, Peru, and as a vagrant to Chile and Colombia.

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

Easily confused with

Side by side: Shear-tailed Grey Tyrant vs Short-tailed Field Tyrant · Rufous-tailed Tyrant vs Short-tailed Field Tyrant

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