Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant (Anairetes flavirostris)

Identification & Behavior: ~11 cm (4.3 in). The Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant has olive-brown upperparts. The wing coverts are black with two white wing bars. The breast is broadly streaked with black and white. The center of the belly can be whitish or yellowish. The base of the bill and most of the lower mandible are yellow-orange. The head is finely streaked with black and white. It shows a split crest and a well developed white crown patch. It forages in dry Andean scrub alone or in pairs. It is sympatric with the Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant which is overall darker, has a darker bill, and has the back-mantle streaked with black and white. It also overlaps with the similar Tufted Tit-Tyrant, which favors humid habitats, has a pale iris, and a tuft rather than a crest.

Status: The Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant is fairly common on Andean scrub, seasonal Lomas, and agricultural hedges on the west slope of the Andes at elevations ranging from near sea level up to 4100 m. It also occurs in inter-Andean valleys of Huanuco and Cuzco. The Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant also occurs in Bo and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Torito de Pico Amarillo.

Sub-species: Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant (Anairetes flavirostris huancabambae), (Chapman), 1924.  N Peru (Piura, Cajamarca, E La Libertad, Huánuco).
(Anairetes flavirostris arequipae), (Chapman), 1926.  SW Peru (S from Lima) S to NW Chile (Arica, Tarapacá).
(Anairetes flavirostris cuzcoensis), (Chapman), 1924.  SE Peru (Cuzco).

Meaning of Name: Anairetes: Gr. anairetes= destroyer. flavirostris: L. flavus= yellow, golden-yellow and rostris, rostrum= billed, beak.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae