Ruddy tailed Flycatcher (Terenotriccus erythrurus)

[order] Passeriformes | [family] Tyrannidae | [latin] Terenotriccus erythrurus | [UK] Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher | [FR] Moucherolle rougequeue | [DE] Rotschwanztyrann | [ES] Mosquerito Colirrojo | [IT] Piglimaosche codirosso | [NL] Roodstaarttiran

The Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher is 9-10.2 cm long and weighs 7 g. The upperparts are grey-olive, with a rufous rump, tail, wings and eye ring. The throat is buff and the breast is cinnamon, becoming pale buff on the belly. Sexes are similar, but young birds are brighter above and have a browner tail and breast.

It breeds in lowlands from southeastern Mexico to northern Bolivia, north-central Brazil and the Guianas. This flycatcher ranges east of the Andes cordillera into the entire Amazon Basin of norhern Brazil and the Guianas; to the west of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador into Central America.

This tiny flycatcher breeds from sea level to 1000 m altitude, locally to 1200 m, in wet mountain forests and in adjacent tall second growth.

The nest is a pear-shaped pouch of plant fibres and leaves with a visored side entrance, built by the female 2-6 m high in the undergrowth and suspended from a twig or vine. The two chocolate-blotched white eggs are incubated by the female for 15-16 days to hatching, the male playing no part in the care of the eggs or young.

The Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher is mainly solitary, and only occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It feeds on insects, especially leafhoppers, picked from foliage or taken in acrobatic aerial pursuit.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 7,500,000 km². The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as ‘frequent’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Sedentary throughout range.