Ruddy-tailed flycatcher

Appearance

The ruddy-tailed flycatcher is 9.0–10.2 cm long and weighs 7 g. The upperparts are grey-olive, with a rufous rump, tail, wings and eye ring. The throat is buff and the breast is cinnamon, becoming pale buff on the belly. Sexes are similar, but young birds are brighter above and have a browner tail and breast.

Naming

It is the only member of the genus ''Terenotriccus'', but some authorities place it in genus ''Myiobius''. However, it differs in voice, behaviour, and structure from members of that group.

Behavior

The ruddy-tailed flycatcher is mainly solitary, and only occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

This species has a ''see-oo see'' call, and a repetitive ''eek eek eek eek eek'' song. It sometimes flicks both wings up to make a faint whirring sound.

Reproduction

This tiny flycatcher breeds from sea level to 1,000 m altitude, locally to 1,200 m, in wet mountain forests and in adjacent tall second growth.

The nest is a pear-shaped pouch of plant fibres and leaves with a visored side entrance, built by the female 2–6 m high in the undergrowth and suspended from a twig or vine. The two chocolate-blotched white eggs are incubated by the female for 15–16 days to hatching, the male playing no part in the care of the eggs or young.

Food

It feeds on insects, especially leafhoppers, picked from foliage or taken in acrobatic aerial pursuit.