Flammulated Pygmy Tyrant (Hemitriccus flammulatus)

Identification & Behavior: ~11 cm (4.3 in). The Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant has olive-brown upperparts with plain wings. The face and throat are grayish. The breast and belly are grayish with diffuse olive streaks. The bill is bicolored with a dull yellow mandible. The iris is dark. In southeast Peru, it forages exclusively in stands of Guadua bamboo in floodplain forests. There is an isolated population in central Peru, which is not associated with bamboo but dense understory and second growth. It is similar to the White-bellied Tody-Tyrant but is distinguished by uniform olive upperparts wit unmarked or plain wings, dark iris, and by a close association with Guadua bamboo (in SE Peru). Also see, Yungas Tody-Tyrant.

Status: The Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant is uncommon but local. It is largely restricted to Madre de Dios and Ucayali with an isolated population in San Martin. It is known to range up to 1200 m along the foothill of the Andes. The Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Tirano-Pigmeo Flamulado.

Sub-species: Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant (Hemitriccus flammulatus flammulatus), Berlepsch, 1901.

Meaning of Name: Hemitriccus: Gr. hemi, hemisus= small, half and trikkos= unidentified small bird. flammulatus: L. flamma= flame, flammulatus, flammulated= with flame-like markings, ruddy.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae