The short-tailed field tyrant (Muscigralla brevicauda) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Ecuador, Peru, and as a vagrant to Chile and Colombia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The short-tailed field tyrant was originally described in 1837 as the type specimen for genus Muscigralla. Since its description, some authors have questioned the status of that genus. Some merged it into Muscisaxicola. However, early twenty-first century studies confirmed genus Muscigralla and found that it is not closely related to Muscisaxicola. Some questions remain about its exact affinities.
The short-tailed field tyrant is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies.
Description
The short-tailed field tyrant is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long; two individuals weighed 13.5 and 11.8 g (0.48 and 0.42 oz). It has very long legs and a very short tail. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a brownish gray head with a short white patch above the lores and a mostly hidden yellow patch in the center of the crown. Their upperparts are mostly brownish gray with a buffy upper rump and rufous chestnut lower rump and uppertail coverts. Their wings are mostly dusky with thin whitish edges on the flight feathers and whitish tips on the coverts; the latter show as two pale wing bars. Their tail is dusky with thin buff tips on the feathers. Their throat, breast, and belly are whitish and their flanks buffy. They have a dark brown or pale rufous iris, a bill that can be entirely black or have a brown maxilla and a dusky-tipped pale yellow mandible, and pale yellowish to pinkish legs and feet.
Distribution and habitat
The short-tailed field tyrant is found from Santa Elena and Guayas provinces in west-central Ecuador south for the entire length of Peru. It also occurs separately in northern Peru's Marañón River valley. There are isolated records further north in Ecuador, one record in Colombia, and a few records in far northern Chile. The species primarily...
