Piura chat-tyrant
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
{{speciesbox
| name = Piura chat-tyrant
| image = Ochthoeca piurae - Piura Chat-Tyrant (cropped).jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Ochthoeca
| species = piurae
| authority = Chapman, 1924
| synonyms =
| range_map = Ochthoeca piurae map.svg
}}
The Piura chat-tyrant (Ochthoeca piurae) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is endemic to Peru.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flycatchers/ |title=Tyrant flycatchers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 15.1 | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=March 2025 |access-date=3 March 2025 }}
Taxonomy and systematics
The Piura chat-tyrant was originally described as Ochthoeca piurae, a full species.{{cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Frank |date=1924 |title=Descriptions of new flycatchers from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/2c70adb0-0943-457a-a254-a73e2669ccfa |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=118 |pages=3 |access-date=June 14, 2025 }} It was soon reassigned as a subspecies of the white-browed chat-tyrant (Ochthoeca leucophrys). Since it was returned to full species status in the 1960s, at least one publication has suggested that it should return to subspecies status.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 30 March 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 30 March 2025Fjeldså, J., and N. K. Krabbe (1990). Birds of the High Andes. Apollo Books and Zoological Museum, Svendborg, Denmark The white-browed and Piura chat-tyrants form a superspecies.
The Piura chat-tyrant is monotypic.
Description
The Piura chat-tyrant is {{convert|12|to|12.5|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and weighs about {{convert|9|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark brown crown, a wide white supercilium that begins at the lores and extends well past the eye, and a blackish "mask". Their upperparts are dark brown with a rufescent tinge on the lower back and rump. Their wings are dark brown with two wide rufous wing bars and white edges on the flight feathers. Their tail is dark brown with white outer edges on the outermost feathers. Their throat and underparts are gray that becomes whitish on the lower belly and vent. They have a brown iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet.Baumann, M. J. (2020). Piura Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca piurae), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.pictyr1.01 retrieved June 14, 2025{{cite book | last1 =Schulenberg | first1 =T.S. | last2 =Stotz | first2 =D.F. | last3 =Lane | first3 =D.F. | last4 =O'Neill | first4 =J.P. | last5 =Parker | first5 =T.A. III | title =Birds of Peru | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =revised and updated |series=Princeton Field Guides | date =2010 | location =Princeton, NJ | pages =464 |isbn = 978-0691130231 }}
Distribution and habitat
The Piura chat-tyrant is found in northern Peru on the western slope of the Andes from southeastern Piura Department south to central Ancash Department. One record in Lima Department suggests its range may extend further south than thought.{{cite journal |last=Baumann |first=M. J. |display-authors=et al |date=2015 |title=Long-distance dispersal of a sedentary Andean flycatcher species with a small geographic range, Ochthoeca piurae (Aves: Tyrannidae) |journal=Check List |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=1795 |doi=10.15560/11.6.1795 |doi-access=free }} The species inhabits the edges of arid and semi-arid montane forest and also scrubby hillsides. In elevation it ranges between {{convert|1400|and|2850|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}.
Behavior
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=Vocalization=
What is thought to be the Piura chat-tyrant's song is "a thin, high trill" that is similar to that of the crowned chat-tyrant, with which it does not overlap. That song is "a drawn-out rather high-pitched but descending trill, ses-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" that lasts several seconds.{{cite book | last1 =Schulenberg | first1 =T.S. | last2 =Stotz | first2 =D.F. | last3 =Lane | first3 =D.F. | last4 =O'Neill | first4 =J.P. | last5 =Parker | first5 =T.A. III | title =Birds of Peru | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =revised and updated |series=Princeton Field Guides | date =2010 | location =Princeton, NJ | pages =462 |isbn = 978-0691130231 }}
Status
The IUCN originally in 1994 assessed the Piura chat-tyrant as Near Threatened but since 2020 as being of Least Concern. It has a restricted range; its population size is not known and is believe to be decreasing. "The species is not as threatened as other forest-dependent species in the region, but ongoing habitat clearance and degradation of montane scrub and riparian thickets are presumably causing slow population declines." It is considered rare and local.
References
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Category:Birds of the Peruvian Andes