All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant
White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant | Agriornis albicauda
Witstaartklauwiertiran | Gaucho andino | Gaúcho-de-cauda-branca
The White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant is the largest shrike-tyrant of the guide area, a heavy, grey-brown flycatcher of the high Andes with an almost entirely white tail. It lives scattered and at low densities on the puna and in high valleys. The species is scarce and has declined in much of its range.
Voice
Rarely heard; a loud, whistled call and repeated whistles at dusk and dawn.
Recording: Matthew L. Brady — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
26–28 cm, with a very heavy, hooked bill; the upper mandible is blackish, the base of the lower mandible pale horn. The upperparts are greyish brown, the underparts paler, with a whitish belly. The throat is white with dense, sharp black streaks. The wings are dark brown. The tail is white except for the dark central feathers, so that it looks mostly white in flight. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant Agriornis montanus is smaller, with an all-black, less heavy bill and less white in the tail. Grey-bellied Shrike-Tyrant Agriornis micropterus is smaller, with a less streaked throat and almost no white in the tail.
Habitat
Open puna and páramo with rocks, gorges and shrubs, Polylepis groves, and the edges of fields and villages in high valleys, mostly between 3000 and 4500 m. It hunts large insects, lizards and small vertebrates from a lookout. The nest is in a cavity or crevice in a rock face or stone wall.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Ecuador: very rare in the central Andes, with few recent records. Peru: locally in the high Andes, mainly in the centre and south. Bolivia: locally in the Andes and on the altiplano. Absent from Colombia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in northern Chile and north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search rocky high valleys and the edges of fields on the puna in southern Peru and western Bolivia; look for a large shrike-tyrant that shows a white tail when it flies off.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The population is small and scattered and has declined in much of the range; the causes are poorly known, but degradation of grassland and scrub through overgrazing, burning and agriculture is suggested.
Scientific name
Agriornis albicauda | (Philippi & Landbeck, 1863) (GBIF: Agriornis andicola)
Philippi & Landbeck described the species in 1863 as Dasycephala albicauda; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Agriornis was introduced in 1839 by Gould. The genus name comes from Greek agrios, 'wild, fierce', and ornis, 'bird'. The species name comes from Latin albus, 'white', and cauda, 'tail'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cordillera of Arica, Chile.