Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant (Myiornis ecaudatus)

Identification & Behavior: ~6.5 cm (2.5 in). The Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant has yellow-olive upperparts and gray crown. The throat and rest of the underparts are whitish gray. It has a white loral line, pale eyering, and a very short tail. The bill is black and the iris dark. It forages in the midstory and subcanopy in mature forest and tall second growth in Amazonia. It is similar to the closely related White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant but is distinguished by having a gray crown, a very short tail, and plain or unstreaked underparts.

Status: The Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant is uncommon and widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 1000 m along the east slope of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Tirano-Pigmeo de Cola Corta.

Sub-species: Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant (Myiornis ecaudatus ecaudatus), (d’Orbigny and Lafresnaye), 1837.

Meaning of Name: Myiornis: Gr. muia, muias= fly and ornis,ornithos= bird. ecaudatus: Mod. L. e= lacking, not and caudatus, cauda= tailed. Tail-less, lacking a tail.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae