Tityras and becards | Tityridae

Tityra's en becards | Titíridos

Tityras and becards are medium-sized songbirds of forest edge and canopy, with a large head, a stout, slightly hooked bill and a fairly short tail. Three species occur in the region. Jamaican Becard is endemic to Jamaica, where it lives in forest and wooded gardens; the male is black, the female brown with a rufous head. Black-tailed Tityra and White-winged Becard live on Trinidad and Tobago. Tityras are largely white or pale grey with black and have bare pink to red skin around the eye and at the base of the bill; they give short grunting or rasping calls. Becards are smaller and have soft whistled or chirping calls. The family eats large insects and fruit, taken from a lookout perch or plucked from foliage while hovering. Becards build a large, globular nest of plant material with an entrance at the side or bottom, often high at the end of a branch; tityras nest in a tree cavity. Identification is by silhouette, bill and colour pattern.