The bright-rumped attila or polymorphic attila (''Attila spadiceus'') is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae). It breeds from northwestern Mexico to western Ecuador,

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and southeastern Brazil, and on Trinidad.

Taxonomy

The bright-rumped attila was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin , fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , doctora ...

in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. He placed it with the flyctacher in the genus '' Muscicapa'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Muscicapa spadicea''. The specific epithet is from Latin ''spadiceus'' meaning "chestnut coloured" or "date-coloured". Gmelin based his description on the "yellow-rumped flycatcher" from

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic Oc ...

that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The bright-rumped attila is now one of seven flycatchers placed in the genus ''

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

'' that was introduced in 1831 by the French naturalist

René Lesson René-Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, and entered the Naval Medical School in Rochefort at the age of sixteen. He ...

. Twelve subspecies are recognised: * ''A. s. pacificus''

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 in Vienna, Austria – 24 February 1944 in Orselina, Switzerland) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete hi ...

, 1929 – northwest Mexico * ''A. s. cozumelae'' Ridgway, 1885 – Cozumel (Mexico) * ''A. s. gaumeri'' Salvin & Godman, 1891 – Yucatán Peninsula and nearby islands * ''A. s. flammulatus'' Lafresnaye, 1848 – southeast Mexico to Belize and central north Honduras * ''A. s. salvadorensis'' Dickey & Van Rossem, 1929 – El Salvador to northwest Nicaragua * ''A. s. citreopyga'' ( Bonaparte, 1854) – southeast Honduras and Nicaragua to west Panama * ''A. s. sclateri'' Lawrence, 1862 – east Panama and northwest Colombia * ''A. s. caniceps'' Todd, 1917 – north, central north Colombia * ''A. s. parvirostris'' Allen, JA, 1900 – northeast Colombia and northwest Venezuela * ''A. s. parambae'' Hartert, EJO, 1900 – west Colombia and northwest Ecuador * ''A. s. spadiceus'' ( Gmelin, JF, 1789) – east Colombia through Venezuela and the Guianas south to north Bolivia * ''A. s. uropygiatus'' ( Wied-Neuwied, M, 1831) – southeast Brazil

Description

The bright-rumped attila is a large tyrant flycatcher with a big head, hooked and slightly upturned bill and upright stance. It is long and weighs . The head is olive-green streaked with black, the back is chestnut or olive, the rump bright yellow and the tail brown. The wings are dark brown with two pale wing bars and paler feather edging. The whitish or yellow throat and yellow breast are variably streaked darker. The belly is white becoming yellow near the tail. The iris is red. The sexes are similar, but young birds have a cinnamon-fringed crown and brown eyes. The plumage is very variable, but the streaking below and obvious wingbars help in distinguishing this species from others in the genus. The calls include a loud ''beat-it, beat-it'' and a plaintive ''ooo weery weery weery weery woo''. It does not move when singing, so can be difficult to see. Central American birds have slightly different song structures and also tend towards lighter

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

plumage independent of Gloger's Rule; they are sometimes separated as flammulated attila (''Attila flammulatus'') . Their characteristic song given at dawn has been analyzed in detail: it has a very variable number of ''weery''s which may become ''weery'o''s, and often ends in a ''woo-whit''; a finite state machine has been developed to simulate this structure. However, due to the highly variable songs more data is required before the technically plausible split can be accepted; the AOU has so far refrained from formally acknowledging it.

Distribution and habitat

The bright-rumped attila is a common bird from the lowlands to

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. It occurs in forests, second growth, pasture and plantations with trees, and shady gardens, and apparently it can tolerate a considerable amount of habitat destruction.

Behaviour and ecology

Feeding

It is an active, aggressive and noisy species, usually seen alone. It eats insects, spiders, frogs and

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

s taken from vegetation or the ground. It will pursue prey on foot as well as attacking in short sallies, and will follow army ant columns. It also takes many fruits (such as from gumbo-limbo ''Bursera simaruba'', and less frequently from ''

Cymbopetalum mayanum ''Cymbopetalum mayanum'' is a species of plant in family Annonaceae. The specific epithet ''mayanum'' refers to the Mayan region in which it is indigenous, specifically the Atlantic lowlands of Guatemala and Honduras. It grows as a tree. ...

'') and seeds.

Breeding

The nest is a deep cup of mosses, leaves and plant fibre; it may be built usually below 3m high amongst

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

, between buttress roots or in a bank, not necessarily in the forest. The typical clutch is 3–4 lilac- or rufous-marked dull white or pink eggs. Incubation by the female is 18-19 days to hatching, with another 18 days to fledging.

References

Sources

* Hilty, Steven L. (2003): ''Birds of Venezuela''. Christopher Helm, London. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1269881 bright-rumped attila Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of the Atlantic Forest Birds of the Guianas Birds of Trinidad and Tobago Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Ecuador Birds of Central America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Mexico bright-rumped attila bright-rumped attila Birds of Brazil Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental