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Mouse-colored Tyrannulet | Nesotriccus murinus
Muisgrijze vliegenpikker | Tiranolete murino
The Mouse-colored Tyrannulet is a small, inconspicuous flycatcher of dry, open scrub and woodland edges in South and Central America; in the Caribbean it occurs only on Trinidad. It was long placed in the genus Phaeomyias; DNA studies showed that it forms a complex that also includes the Cocos Flycatcher of Cocos Island, after which both were placed in Nesotriccus. Some lists split the northern birds, which include those of Trinidad, as a separate species.
Voice
Mainly at dawn a short, endlessly repeated phrase, and during the day a rising series of buzzy notes. It also gives nasal and emphatic calls.
Recording: Richard E. Webster — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
11–12 cm, with a short bill whose lower mandible has a pale, orangey base. The upperparts are plain grey-brown to olive-brown, without a crest or crown patch. A pale supercilium extends behind the eye. The wing shows two pale buff to ochre wing bars. Throat and breast are greyish white, the belly dull pale yellow. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Southern Beardless Tyrannulet Camptostoma obsoletum is smaller, raises a bushy little crest and often flicks its tail. Northern Scrub Flycatcher Sublegatus arenarum has a shorter, all-black bill and a grey breast more sharply set off from the yellow belly. Fuscous Flycatcher Cnemotriccus fuscatus is browner, longer-tailed and keeps to the undergrowth. Elaenias such as Lesser Elaenia Elaenia chiriquensis are larger and have a white crown patch.
Habitat
Open to semi-open country: dry scrub, dry and open woodland, forest edges, overgrown land and yards with scattered trees, in the lowlands. It forages alone or in pairs for insects, mostly 2–8 m above the ground, gleaning them from leaves and twigs or picking them off in a hover; it also takes small fruit.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
In the Caribbean only on Trinidad, where it is local and scarce. Outside the region from southern Costa Rica and Panama through much of South America to Paraguay and north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Dry scrub and open woodland edges in the lowlands of Trinidad. The bird is mainly found by its song at dawn; after that, the combination of pale supercilium, pale wing bars and plain crown is the best guide.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a very large range and a stable population, and tolerates disturbed, open land.
Scientific name
Nesotriccus murinus | (Spix, 1825) (GBIF: Phaeomyias murina)
Spix described the species in 1825 as Platyrhynchus murinus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Nesotriccus was introduced in 1895 by Townsend. Nesotriccus is Greek, from nēsos 'island' and trikkos, a small bird (used for tyrant flycatchers), after Cocos Island, home of the first species. murinus is Latin for 'of mice', here 'mouse-grey', after the drab plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Juazeiro on the Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil.