Sooty Tyrannulet

About the Sooty Tyrannulet

The sooty tyrannulet (Serpophaga nigricans) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is small, usually weighing 9 grams with a length of 12 centimeters, and has gray or brownish-grey feathers with black tail feathers.

It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay; also southern Paraguay. A small extension of its range is in southeastern Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, and swamps. The sooty tyrannulet was first described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot based on observations by the Spanish military officer Félix de Azara from 1805. Azara gave it the name "Tachuri obscurito menor". In 1817, Vieillot gave it the scientific name Sylvia nigricans. In 1927, the ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr placed the sooty tyrannulet in the genus Serpophaga with the name Serpophaga nigricans. It does not have any subspecies. It was once thought be most closely related to Urich's tyrannulet, however a mitochondrial DNA study has shown that it is most closely related to the torrent tyrannulet.

The sooty tyrannulet is overall a dark grey colour, with a brownish tinge to... Wikipedia →