The buff-breasted tody-tyrant (''Hemitriccus mirandae'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Tyrannidae The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a Family (biology), family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North America, North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is ...

, the tyrant flycatchers. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described in 1925 as ''Todirostrum mirandae''. Later in the twentieth century it was moved to genus ''Idioptilon'' which was later still merged into ''Hemitriccus''.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 18 November 2024. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved November 26, 2024 The buff-breasted tody-tyrant is now

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. However, what is now

Kaempfer's tody-tyrant Kaempfer's tody-tyrant (''Hemitriccus kaempferi'') is a rare species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is native to the Serra do Mar coastal forests. Taxonomy and systematics Kaempfer's tody-tyrant was originally ...

(''H. kaempferi'') was previously treated as a subspecies of it.

Description

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant is about long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a darkish olive crown and pale creamy buff face. Their back and rump are darkish olive. Their wings are dusky olive with wide creamy edges on the innermost secondaries. Their tail is dusky olive. Their throat and breast are pale creamy buff, their belly more whitish, and their crissum pale yellow. They have an orange iris, a gray

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

, a paler

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

, and gray to pale pinkish legs and feet.Clock, B. M. (2020). Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant (''Hemitriccus mirandae''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bbttyr2.01 retrieved January 27, 2025

Distribution and habitat

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

in northeastern Brazil, intermittently in the states of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

, and

Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...

. It inhabits semi-humid forest both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary in the highlands. It occurs only on the slopes of isolated ridges between .

Behavior

Movement

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant is a year-round resident.

Feeding

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant feeds on insects. It typically forages singly and is not known to join

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. It mostly forages from the forest's understory to its middle levels, often in dense vine tangles, between about above the ground. It mostly takes prey using short upward sallies from a perch to grab it from the underside of leaves.

Breeding

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant's nest has anecdotally been described as "pendant". Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The buff-breasted tody-tyrant's song is a "short series of 7-8 sharp, well-accentuated notes, slightly accelerating and ascending". It has been written as "kt-kit-kit-kiit-kiit-kiiit-kit".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the buff-breasted tody-tyrant as Vulnerable. It has a disjunct distribution and its estimated population of between 1500 and 7000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "There has been massive deforestation within its disjunct and fragmented range nd theremaining areas of forest within the range are highly fragmented." It is considered uncommon and very local. It occurs in several protected areas but " ly the protection of intact forest can secure the long-term survival of this tyrannid".

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1262880 buff-breasted tody-tyrant Birds of Brazil Endemic birds of Brazil buff-breasted tody-tyrant buff-breasted tody-tyrant Taxonomy articles created by Polbot