Many-colored Rush Tyrant (Tachuris rubrigastra)

Identification & Behavior: ~10.5 cm (4.1 in). The Many-colored Rush-Tyrant has a greenish mantle, blue sides of the head, black wings and yellow underparts with a black broken breast band. The immature is a dull version of the adult with feathers fringed with brown. The iris is pale in the adult but dark in the juvenile. The adult in the southern end of their range, and in the Titicaca Basin have a dark iris. It forages exclusively at cattail stands and reed beds in freshwater bodies of water. The adult plumage is unmistakable in its very specific habitat. The immature superficially resembles a Wren-like Rush-Tyrant.

Status: The Many-colored Rush-Tyrant is widespread along the coastal lowland of western Peru. It is also local to large bodies of water in the Andes. The Many-colored Rush-Tyrant also occurs in Br, Bo, and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Siete Colores de la Totora.

Sub-species: Many-colored Rush Tyrant (Tachuris rubrigastra libertatis), Hellmayr, 1920.  W Peru (La Libertad S to Lima and N Ica).
(Tachuris rubrigastra alticola), (Berlepsch and Stolzmann), 1896.  C & SE Peru (Junín S to Puno), W Bolivia (La Paz, Oruro) and NW Argentina (Jujuy, Tucumán).

Meaning of Name: Tachuris: Tachurí = Güaraní name for various small birds. rubrigastra: L. ruber, rubra= red and gaster, gasteris= belly.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae