birds

Pied Water Tyrants

Pied Water Tyrants (Fluvicola pica)

The Pied Water Tyrants, Fluvicola pica, is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family.

Pied Water Tyrants (Fluvicola pica) Sitting In A Tree
Pied Water Tyrants (Fluvicola pica) Sitting In A Tree

Pied Water Tyrants Distribution / Habitat

It breeds in tropical South America from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia and Argentina.

This species is found in marshy savannahs and the edges of mangrove swamps.

Pied Water Tyrants Nesting / Breeding

The nest is a feather-lined oval ball of grasses and other plant material, with a side entrance. It is placed at the end of a branch near or over water. Both sexes incubate the typical clutch of two or three creamy-white eggs, which are marked with a few brown spots. Cowbirds sometimes parasitise the nest.

Pied Water Tyrants Description

The Pied Water Tyrant is 13.5 cm long and weighs 13g. Adults are mainly white with a black nape, back, wings, and tail. Males and females look alike, although the female may have some brown mixed with the black, and immature birds are brown where the adult is black.

Pied Water Tyrants often bob up and down when perched, and have a fluttering “butterfly” display flight.

Call / Song

The call is a nasal djweeooo.

Diet / Food

They forage for insects, their staple diet, in low waterside vegetation.

 

Gordon Ramel

Gordon is an ecologist with two degrees from Exeter University. He's also a teacher, a poet and the owner of 1,152 books. Oh - and he wrote this website.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button