White-winged Black-Tyrant ( Knipolegus aterrimus)

Identification & Behavior: ~15 cm (6 in). The male White-winged Black-Tyrant is all black with a bluish-gray bill. It has a broad white band along the length of the wing, which is visible when the bird is in flight. The female has grayish or grayish-brown upperparts and brown underparts without or only faint streaking on the breast. The wing coverts are dusky with two buffy or whitish wing bars. The tail has buffy webbing. The rump is rufous. It forages in Andean humid scrub where it often perches high on top branches. The male is similar to Jelski’s Black-Tyrant and Plumbeous Black-Tyrant but is distinguished by a black plumage and white wing band. The female is distinguished by having buffy webbing on the tail and a rufous rump.

Status: The White-winged Black-Tyrant is uncommon in two disjunct populations in humid montane scrub and forest edges on the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1800-2700 m. It also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Viudita-Negra de Ala Blanca.

Sub-species: White-winged Black-Tyrant (Knipolegus aterrimus heterogyna), Berlepsch, 1907.  N Peru (Marañón Valley from Cajamarca S to Ancash).
(Knipolegus aterrimus anthracinus), Cabanis, 1859.

Meaning of Name: Knipolegus: Gr. knips, knipos= insect and lego= to pick. aterrimus: L. ater= black, aterrimus= very black, blackest.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae