Fluvicola pica
The Pied Water Tyrant (Fluvicola pica) is a strikingly patterned, small flycatcher, typically measuring around 13 cm (5.1 inches) in length and weighing between 12-18 grams. Its plumage is a bold and unmistakable combination of pure white underparts, rump, and a prominent supercilium, sharply contrasted with a glossy black cap, back, wings, and tail. The wings feature a distinct broad white patch, and the outer tail feathers are also white, adding to its easily identifiable field marks, espec...
Favors open, wet grasslands, marshes, and the margins of ponds and rivers, often found in human-modified wetlands like rice fields, typically at low elevations.
Primarily insectivorous, catching a variety of flying insects such as flies, beetles, and grasshoppers through aerial sallies and gleaning from waterside vegetation.
A highly active, diurnal flycatcher, the Pied Water Tyrant is often observed perching conspicuously on reeds, fence posts, or low branches near water, frequently pumping its tail up and down. Its primary foraging strategy involves 'perch-and-sally' flycatching, where it darts out from a low perch...
The Pied Water Tyrant is a widespread resident throughout much of northern and central South America. Its breeding and year-round range extends from northern Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago, through the Guianas, eastward into vast portions of Brazil. Southward, its distribution reach...
Least Concern
- The 'Pied' in its name refers to its striking black and white, or parti-colored, plumage. - It has a distinctive tail-pumping habit, often flicking its tail up and down while perched. - Often seen perched on the backs of cattle or capybaras, using them as mobile foraging platforms. - Its nest i...