The black-capped pygmy tyrant (''Myiornis atricapillus'') is the smallest

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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in its range, though larger than its cousin, the

short-tailed pygmy tyrant The short-tailed pygmy tyrant (''Myiornis ecaudatus'') is a small species of tyrant-flycatcher. The species is one of the smallest birds on Earth and the smallest passerine. Among both the family and the order, only the closely related black-ca ...

. This

tyrant flycatcher The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most dive ...

occurs from

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

to north-western

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. It is a species of the forest canopy, coming lower at edges and clearings, and in second growth and semi-open woodland. It occurs up to an altitude of 900 m. It is fairly common, except in arid areas. In Costa Rica and most of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

it is restricted to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

lowlands, while essentially restricted to the humid parts of the Chocó further south. The female builds a 15 cm long pouch nest with a round side entrance, which is suspended from a thin branch 1–7 m high in a tree. The female incubates the two brown-blotched white eggs for 15–16 days to hatching. The black-capped pygmy tyrant is a tiny short-tailed bird, 6.5 cm long, and weighing 5.2 g. The crown is black, shading to dark grey on the rest of the head, and contrasting with the white “spectacles”. The rest of the upperparts are olive-green. The tail and the wings are blackish with yellow edging to the feathers and two yellow wing bars. The throat and central breast are white, shading to grey on the flanks and pale yellow on the belly. The sexes are similar, but females have a duller, sootier crown, and young birds have a browner crown and upperparts, and their wing markings and underparts are tinged with buff. The black-capped pygmy tyrant can be seen alone, in pairs, or family groups, hunting small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s in rapid dashes. The call is a thin ''ttseep'' which can be confused with an insect or frog. Family groups also communicate with soft whistles and trills.

References

* Stiles and Skutch, ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica'',

External links

Videos, photos and sounds
- The Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q1266879 black-capped pygmy tyrant Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena black-capped pygmy tyrant