The masked tityra (''Tityra semifasciata'') is a medium-sized

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird. It has traditionally been placed in the

cotinga The cotingas are a large family, Cotingidae, of suboscine passerine birds found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, that are primary frugivorous. They all have broad bills with hooked ti ...

or the

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

family, but evidence strongly suggests that it is better placed in

Tityridae Tityridae is family of suboscine passerine birds found in forest and woodland in the Neotropics. The 45 species in this family were formerly spread over the families Tyrannidae, Pipridae and Cotingidae (''see Taxonomy (biology), Taxonomy''). As y ...

, where it is now placed by the

South American Classification Committee The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

. It is found in forest and woodland from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, through

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, to northwestern and central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(as far south as

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

). Measuring , it has a black-and-whitish

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

, and a distinct red eye-ring and base of the bill. The mask is black in the male, while it is brownish or greyish in the female. The male resembles the black-tailed tityra, but can be separated by its smaller black face mask (does not include the nape) and white tail-tip. Masked tityra (Tityra semifasciata personata) male Copan.jpg, ''T. s. personata''
Copan, Honduras Masked Tityra 3.jpg, ''T. s. costaricensis''
Turrialba, Costa Rica

References

External links

* * * * masked tityra Birds of Central America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Ecuador Birds of Southern Amazonia Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay masked tityra Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Tityridae-stub

References

Further reading

External links