Lesser Shrike-Tyrant

About the Lesser Shrike-Tyrant

The lesser shrike-tyrant (Agriornis murinus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay and as a vagrant to Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The lesser shrike-tyrant was formally described in 1837 as Pepoazae murina. For much of the twentieth century it was placed in genus Xolmis but by the 1980s most authors had transferred to genus Agriornis that was erected in 1839.

The lesser shrike-tyrant is monotypic. The lesser shrike-tyrant is 16 to 18.5 cm (6.3 to 7.3 in) long. Adult males have a gray-brown crown, mottled blackish and white lores, and a whitish or buffy supercilium and eye-ring. Their upperparts are gray-brown. Their wings are mostly dusky with whitish tips on the coverts and whitish edges on the inner flight feathers. Their tail is mostly dusky with pale grayish to white outer webs on the outermost pair pair of feathers. Their throat is white with thin black streaks, their breast very pale grayish brown, their flanks pale grayish brown with a buff tinge, and their belly creamy whitish. Adult females have almost the same plumage but the streaks on their throat... Wikipedia →