Tropical kingbird

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Tropical kingbird
T. m. melancholicus
The Pantanal, Brazil

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Tyrannus
Species:
T. melancholicus
Binomial name
Tyrannus melancholicus
Vieillot, 1819
Purple = year-round range; orange = breeding range

The tropical kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) is a large

Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States through Central America, South America as far as south as central Argentina and eastern Peru, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate
to warmer parts of the range after breeding.

Taxonomy

The tropical kingbird was

binomial name Tyrannus melancholicus.[2] Vieillot based his description on the Suirirí-Guazú that had been described by the Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara in 1805 in his book Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paragüay y Rio de la Plata.[3][4] The specific epithet is Latin meaning "melancholic" (that is "bad-tempered").[5]

Three subspecies are recognised:[6]

  • T. m. satrapa (Cabanis & Heine, 1860) – southwest USA to north Colombia, north Venezuela and Trinidad
  • T. m. despotes (Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823) – northeast Brazil
  • T. m. melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 – north South America to central Argentina

Description

An adult tropical kingbird is 22 cm (8.7 in) long, weighs 39 g (1.4 oz) and has a wingspan range of 38–41 cm.[7] The head is pale gray, with a darker eye mask, an orange crown stripe, and a heavy gray bill. The back is grayish-green, and the wing and forked tail are brown. The throat is pale gray, becoming olive on the breast, with the rest of the underparts being yellow. The sexes are similar, but young birds have pale buff edges on the wing coverts.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

Tropical kingbirds appear to be monogamous. In most parts of the species' range, they are permanent residents and remain together in pairs year-round.(Sibley 2014)[page needed] The call is a high-pitched twittering trill, tree-e-e-e-e-e-e, with a more complex version sung by the male at dawn.

Their breeding habitat is semi-open areas with trees and shrubs, including gardens and roadsides. Tropical kingbirds like to observe their surroundings from a prominent open perch, usually high in a tree, undertaking long flights to acrobatically catch

mixed-species feeding flocks in the understory.[13]

microfilariae and trypanosomas (presumably T. everetti) was infrequently recorded in tropical kingbirds.[14]

The male and female inspect potential sites together before selecting a site, typically a fork or crotch high in a tree (up to 20 m (66 ft) high) but sometimes just a few metres above water.(Sibley 2014)[page needed] The female builds a bulky, sloppy-looking, shallow nest of vines, rootlets, twigs, weeds, and grasses; it is unlined or lined with hair. Nests average about 13.2 cm (5.2 in) across and 7.6 cm (3.0 in) tall, with interior cup about 7.6 cm (3.0 in) across and 4.1 cm (1.6 in) deep.[15][page needed]

The female incubates the typical clutch of two to four eggs for approximately 16 days, and the nestlings fledge in another 18 or 19 days. The eggs are whitish or pale pink with variable amounts of dark blotching.[15][page needed]

Status

The tropical kingbird is one of the most widespread and conspicuous inhabitants of open forest, forest edge, scrub and agricultural land from the southwestern United States south to Argentina (Jahn, Stouffer, & Chesser, 2013). As a result, the bird is considered as being of Least Concern and their population is increasing, according to the

IUCN.[1] According to Partners in Flight, global estimates of tropical kingbird breeding population is around 200 million. They rate the species as 4 out of 20 on the continental concern scale, indicating that this species is of low conservation concern.[16]

Gallery

References

Citations

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22700485A93779037.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1817). Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc (in French). Vol. Tome 35. Paris: Deterville. pp. 84–85.
  3. ^ Azara, Félix de (1805). "Num. CXCVIII Del Suirirí-Guazú". Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paragüay y Rio de la Plata (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Madrid: Imprenta de la Hija de Ibarra. p. 152.
  4. ^ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 223.
  5. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  6. Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Tyrant flycatchers"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  7. ^ Oiseaux.net. "Tyran mélancolique - Tyrannus melancholicus - Tropical Kingbird". Oiseaux.net. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  8. doi:10.1590/S0101-81752005000400036 PDF fulltext
  9. ^ a b Pascotto, Márcia Cristina (2006): Avifauna dispersora de sementes de Alchornea glandulosa (Euphorbiaceae) em uma área de mata ciliar no estado de São Paulo [Seed dispersal of Alchornea glandulosa (Euphorbiaceae) by birds in a gallery forest in São Paulo, southeastern Brazil.]. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 14 (3): 291–296 [Portuguese with English abstract]. PDF fulltext Archived 2010-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ a b c "Tyrannus melancholicus (Tropical Kingbird)" (PDF). Sta.uwi.edu. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  11. ^ a b "ADW: Tyrannus melancholicus: INFORMATION". Animaldiversity.org. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  12. doi:10.1017/S0959270906000554
  13. doi:10.1590/S0034-71081999000100010 PDF fulltext
  14. ^ Basto, Natalia; Rodríguez, Oscar A.; Marinkelle, Cornelis J.; Gutierrez, Rafael & Matta, Nubia Estela (2006): Haematozoa in birds from la Macarena National Natural Park (Colombia). Caldasia 28 (2): 371–377 [English with Spanish abstract]. PDF fulltext
  15. ^ a b Sibley 2014.
  16. ^ Partners in Flight 2017.

General sources

Further reading

  • Skutch, Alexander F. (1960). "Tropical kingbird" (PDF). Life Histories of Central American Birds II. Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 34. Berkeley, California: Cooper Ornithological Society. pp. 349–352.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tyrannus melancholicus.
Wikispecies has information related to Tyrannus melancholicus.
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