| Torrent tyrannulet | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Tyrannidae |
| Genus: | Serpophaga |
| Species: | S. cinerea |
| Binomial name | |
| Serpophaga cinerea (Tschudi, 1844) | |
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The torrent tyrannulet (Serpophaga cinerea) is a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from Costa Rica south to northern Bolivia and northwestern Venezuela.
The adult torrent tyrannulet is 10–11.4 cm long and weighs 8g. The male is pale grey above, and greyish white below, becoming white on the throat and lower belly. The head above the level of the eye is black with a concealed white crown patch, and the wings and tail are blackish. There are two thin grey-white wing bars.
The female is similar, but the top of the head is greyer and the crown patch is smaller or absent. Young birds have a browner cap, a brownish tint to the upperparts and broader, yellower wing bars.
The torrent tyrannulet is a bird of rocky mountain streams at elevations from 300 to 2200 m, although it is less common at the lower altitudes where the water currents are weaker. There is a nesting record from Costa Rica as low as 35 m, possibly as a result of displacement of birds by hydroelectric work higher up the Sarapiquí River.
Its substantial cup nest is built on a branch up to 4 m high over water, or on a rocky shore. It is lined with feathers and covered with moss on the outside, and the clutch is two unmarked pale buff or whitish eggs.
The torrent tyrannulet feeds on insects, caught in flight or picked off bankside vegetation or rocks. It has a direct dipper-like flight low over water, and frequently pumps its tail as it perches on a rock in the stream. Its call is a sharp penetrating chip, readily audible over the noise of the rushing water, and the song is a slower repetition of the call or a seek followed by a trilled ti,ti,ti,ti,ti,ti,.
The southern beardless tyrannulet is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from Costa Rica through South America south to Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina.
The bran-colored flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from Costa Rica through South America to Bolivia, Uruguay, and Argentina. It also occurs on Trinidad.
The slaty-capped flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is found in northern Bolivia to Costa Rica and in Trinidad.
The collared plover is a small shorebird in the plover family, Charadriidae. It lives along coasts and riverbanks of the tropical to temperate Americas, from central Mexico south to Chile and Argentina.
The social flycatcher is a passerine bird from the Americas, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae).
The long-tailed silky-flycatcher is a passerine bird which occurs only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, usually from 1,850 m altitude to the timberline. It is a thrush-sized species weighing about 37 g. The silky-flycatchers are related to waxwings, and like that group have soft silky plumage.
The golden-bellied flycatcher is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is an endemic resident breeder in Costa Rica and western Panama.
The black-capped flycatcher is a very small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.
The Guatemalan tyrannulet or paltry tyrannulet, is a very small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It occurs in southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and southern Belize.
The dark pewee is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is endemic to the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama.
The mountain elaenia is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in highlands from Guatemala to Colombia and western Venezuela. The scientific name celebrates the German physician and naturalist, Alexander von Frantzius.
The tawny-chested flycatcher or Salvin's flycatcher, is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in Caribbean lowlands and foothills up to 1000 m altitude from eastern Nicaragua to northern Costa Rica, although all Nicaraguan records are historical specimens collected near Lake Nicaragua or its outflow.
The black-capped pygmy tyrant is the smallest passerine bird in its range, though larger than its cousin, the short-tailed pygmy tyrant. This tyrant flycatcher occurs from Costa Rica to north-western Ecuador.
The northern beardless tyrannulet is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southeasternmost Arizona and Texas of the United States through Mexico and Central America to northwestern Costa Rica.
The slaty-backed forktail is a species of forktail in the family Muscicapidae. A slim, medium-sized forktail, it is distinguished from similar species by its slate grey forehead, crown, and mantle. It has a long and deeply forked tail banded in black and white, a white rump, and a white bar across its primary feathers; the rest of the plumage is predominantly white. The sexes look alike. The bird frequents the edges of fast-flowing streams and rivers, where it hunts small invertebrates by hopping among rocks or flying out over the water. It breeds between February and July, laying 3–4 pinkish, bluish, or white eggs; both sexes incubate the eggs.
The sooty tyrannulet 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.
