All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Torrent Tyrannulet
Torrent Tyrannulet | Serpophaga cinerea
Bergbeektachuri | Mosquerito guardarríos | Alegrinho-das-torrentes
The Torrent Tyrannulet is a small grey tyrant with a black head that lives almost exclusively along fast-flowing mountain streams and rivers in the Andes. It perches on rocks in mid-stream or on branches above the water, constantly pumping its tail. Pairs hold a stretch of stream throughout the year.
Voice
A sharp, high tsip or tseep, often repeated, and a short, dry trill, also given as a duet; audible above the noise of the water.
Recording: Mauricio Cuellar Ramirez (@Birding.travel) — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11 cm, with a short black bill. The head is black, with a concealed white crown patch. The back and mantle are pale grey. The wings and tail are blackish, the wings with narrow grey edges. The underparts are whitish, washed grey on the breast and flanks. The sexes are alike; juveniles are browner grey, with a duller head.
Confusion species
Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans is larger and mostly black, with a white belly and white wing edges. White-capped Dipper Cinclus leucocephalus is larger and stockier, with a white crown and white throat. River Tyrannulet Serpophaga hypoleuca is browner grey, with no contrast between head and back, and lives along large lowland rivers.
Habitat
Fast-flowing, rocky streams and rivers in montane forest and semi-open country, roughly between 700 and 3500 m. It catches insects from rocks above the water, in short sallies or by picking them off the stones. The nest is a small cup of moss and fibres on a branch or rock above the water.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in all three Andean ranges and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. In Ecuador on both slopes of the Andes. In Peru along the Andes, mainly on the eastern slope, south to Puno. In Bolivia in the north, in the Yungas of La Paz. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Venezuela, Costa Rica and Panama.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Walk along a fast mountain stream and scan the rocks in the water; birds are often in pairs and pump their tails. Often on the same streams as Torrent Duck Merganetta armata.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread and fairly common along suitable streams; pollution and damming of streams can remove habitat locally.
Scientific name
Serpophaga cinerea | (Tschudi, 1844)
Tschudi described the species in 1844 as L[eptopogon] cinereus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Serpophaga was introduced in 1839 by Gould. The genus name comes from Greek serphos, 'gnat, small insect', and -phagos, '-eating'. The species name comes from Latin cinereus, 'ash-grey'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Vicinity of Tarma, Junín, Peru.