puna ground tyrant
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{speciesbox
| name = Puna ground tyrant
| image = Puna Ground-tyrant.JPG
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Muscisaxicola
| species = juninensis
| authority = Taczanowski, 1884
| synonyms =
| range_map = Muscisaxicola juninensis map.svg
}}
The puna ground tyrant (Muscisaxicola juninensis) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.{{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=March 3, 2025 }} It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.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. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved 30 March 2025
Taxonomy and systematics
The puna ground-tyrant is monotypic.
The authors of an early twentieth century publication suggested possibly treating M. juninensis (then called the Junin ground-tyrant) as a subspecies of the white-browed ground tyrant (M. albilora).{{cite book | last =Cory | first =C. B. |last2=Hellmayr |first2=C. E. | title =Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in the Field Museum of Natural History | publisher =Field Museum Nat. History | series =Zoological Series | volume =XIII part V Tyrannidae | date =1927 |location=Chicago | pages =23–24 | url =https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2830784 }}
Description
The puna ground tyrant is {{convert|16|to|16.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dull cinnamon crown, a white spot above their lores, a faint pale supercilium, and a pale broken eye-ring on an otherwise pale brownish gray face. Their upperparts are mostly pale brownish gray with a black lower rump. Their wings are dusky gray. Their tail is black with white edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat and belly are whitish and their breast pale gray. They have a dark iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet. Juveniles have pale cinnamon edges on the wing coverts and buffy underparts.Farnsworth, A., G. Langham, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Puna Ground-Tyrant (Muscisaxicola juninensis), 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.pugtyr1.01 retrieved April 23, 2025
Distribution and habitat
The puna ground tyrant is found along the Andes from Ancash Department in northwestern Peru south through the country into northern Chile's Arica and Tarapacá regions and through western Bolivia into northwestern Argentina as far as western Tucumán Province. It inhabits puna grassland and montane steppe, especially near rock outcrops, boulders, and cliffs. It also inhabits the edges of bogs, lakes, and marshes.{{cite book | last =de la Peña | first =Martín R. | last2=Rumboll |first2=Maurice| title =Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica | publisher =Princeton University Press | series =Princeton Illustrated Checklists | date =2001 | location =New Jersey | pages =Plate 76, map 76.6 | isbn =0691090351 }}{{cite book | last =Schulenberg | first =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 =456 |isbn = 978-0691130231 }} In elevation it overall ranges between {{convert|3200|and|5000|m|ft|abbr=on}} but between {{convert|3800|and|4800|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Peru.
Behavior
=Movement=
=Feeding=
The puna ground tyrant feeds on insects. It is almost wholly terrestrial but will perch on rocks. It runs and hops along the ground, stopping to stand erect before grabbing prey, or sallies to it from a rock. In the breeding season it mostly forages by itself or in pairs but is regularly in flocks outside that season.
=Breeding=
The puna ground tyrant's breeding season has not been defined but includes October. Its nest has not been formally described but it is thought to be placed in a crevice between rocks. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Muscisaxicola-juninensis |species=the puna ground tyrant}}
=Vocalization=
As of April 2025 xeno-canto had a single recording of a puna ground tyrant vocalization and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had five others.{{cite web |url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Muscisaxicola-juninensis |title=Puna Ground Tyrant - Muscisaxicola juninensis |author= |date=April 23, 2025 |website=xeno-canto |access-date=April 23, 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=pugtyr1&mediaType=audio&sort=rating_rank_desc |title=Puna Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola juninensis |author= |date=April 23, 2025 |website=Birds of the World |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |access-date=April 23, 2025 }} The species' song is not known. Its call is "a soft high-pitched peep repeated at intervals".
Status
The IUCN has assessed the puna ground tyrant as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered fairly common in Peru and locally fairly common to common overall. It occurs in national parks in all four countries it inhabits.