Black-tailed Tityra

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The Black-tailed Tityra, Tityra cayana, is a medium-sized passerine bird of tropical South America. The tityras have been placed in the cotinga or the tyrant flycatcher families by various authors, but the evidence strongly suggest they and their closest relatives are better separated as Tityridae. The AOU for example advocates this separation.^[1]

The adult Black-tailed Tityra is 22 cm (8.7 in) long and weighs 60 g (2.1 oz). The male is greyish-white above and white below, except for the head, wings and tail, which are black. There is a patch of red bare skin around the eye, and the bill is red-based with a black tip. The female of the nominate subspecies is similar, but slightly darker above, with a brownish crown and fine brown streaks on the back and breast. The female of the subspecies braziliensis is markedly browner with stronger streaking above and below. Both sexes of this subspecies also have a narrower red base to the bill. This species has a buzzing weenk or doubled beeza-buzza call.

This bird is found in forest edges, second growth and plantation shade trees from Colombia, Trinidad, Venezuela, and the Amazon Basin south to northeastern Argentina and southeastern Brazil, in the pantanal and cerrado. Black-tailed Tityras are most commonly seen in pairs, or, less frequently, single or in small groups, perched conspicuosly as they feed on medium-sized fruits. Some large insects are fed to the chicks.

The brown-marked buffTemplate:Fact eggs are laid in a bed of dry leaves in a tree hole, several meters above ground either in an old woodpecker nest or the crown of a dead palm tree. Three eggs are considered likely, but exact clutch size is uncertain.^[2] The female incubates alone, but both parents feed the chicks. Fledging is believed to take at least 3 weeks. In the lowlands of Colombia and Ecuador, breeding activity has been reported in March, June, July and November, suggesting either lack of a distinct breeding season and/or that two broods may be raised per year^[3].

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Footnotes

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References

Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Template:Aut (1991): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
Template:Aut (2004): Notes on breeding birds from an Ecuadorian lowland forest. Bull. B.O.C. 124(1): 28-37. PDF fulltext
Template:Aut (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
Template:Aut (2004): Black-tailed Tityra (Tityra cayana). Pp. 450 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Christie, D. A. eds. (2004). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-69-5
Template:Aut (2007): Proposal #313 - Adopt the Family Tityridae.
Template:Aut (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4