Long-tailed Tyrant
Colonia colonus
Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyTyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers)
- GenusColonia
- SpeciesColonia colonus (Long-tailed Tyrant)
About the Long-tailed Tyrant
The long-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Central America from Honduras to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The long-tailed tyrant was originally described as Muscicapa colonus, erroneously including it in the Old World flycatcher family. The long-tailed tyrant is the only member of genus Colonia. It has these five subspecies:
C. c. leuconota (Lafresnaye, 1842) C. c. fuscicapillus (Sclater, PL, 1862) C. c. poecilonota (Cabanis, 1849) C. c. niveiceps Zimmer, JT, 1930 C. c. colonus (Vieillot, 1818) Male long-tailed tyrants are 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11 in) and females 18 to 22 cm (7.1 to 8.7 in) long; these measurements do not include the elongated central tail feathers. Adults weigh 15 to 18 g (0.53 to 0.63 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. c. colonus are mostly dull black with a white forehead and forecrown, a whitish rump, and a grayish black belly. Their central pair of tail feathers can extend up to 13 cm (5.1 in) beyond the others and have somewhat widened tips. They are often worn or broken... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at San Lorenzo Protected Forest
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
Southern Bentbill
Oncostoma olivaceum
Common Tody-Flycatcher
Todirostrum cinereum
Tropical Kingbird
Tyrannus melancholicus
Streaked Flycatcher
Myiodynastes maculatus
Social Flycatcher
Myiozetetes similis
Brown-capped Tyrannulet
Ornithion brunneicapillus
Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet
Tyrannulus elatus
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Myiozetetes cayanensis
Forest Elaenia
Myiopagis gaimardii
Guatemalan Paltry Tyrannulet
Zimmerius vilissimus
Piratic Flycatcher
Legatus leucophaius
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.