Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant

About the Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant

The lesser wagtail-tyrant (Stigmatura napensis) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. What is now the lesser wagtail-tyrant was originally described as Stigmatura budytoides napensis, a subspecies of the greater wagtail-tyrant. What is now the Bahia wagtail-tyrant (S. bahiae) was described as another subspecies at the same time. They were later treated as two subspecies of the lesser wagtail-tyrant. BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World separated them from each other as monotypic species in 2014. The Clements taxonomy did so in late 2022 and the International Ornithological Committee in early 2023. As of late 2024 the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society had not adopted the split. A population in the upper Orinoco Basin that is separate from the rest of the species is suspected of being a subspecies or possibly a species.

The lesser wagtail-tyrant is 13 cm (5.1 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage; males are slightly larger than females. Adults have a thin pale yellow supercilium... Wikipedia →