Black-crowned tityra
The black-crowned tityra is a medium-sized passerine bird. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country except El Salvador, and every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
Taxonomy and systematics
The black-crowned tityra has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described in 1823 as Lanius inquisitor, mistakenly placing it in the shrike family. In 1851 Johann Jakob Kaup placed it in a new genus, Psaris; he noted that the genus was a synonym for Tityra that Viellot had erected in 1816. In the early twentieth century some authors placed it in its own genus Erator which was then merged into Tityra in 1929, though some authors in the 1970s urged the species' return to Erator. All of the tityras were for a time included in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae before they, becards, and a few other species were assigned to their current family Tityridae.The black-crowned tityra has these six subspecies:T. i. fraserii T. i. albitorques du Bus de Gisignies, 1847T. i. buckleyi Salvin & Godman, 1890T. i. erythrogenys T. i. pelzelni Salvin & Godman, 1890
- ''T. i. inquisitor''
Description
The black-capped tityra is long and weighs. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. i. inquisitor have a mostly black head. Their nape and upperparts are whitish gray with a pearly gray cast. Their wings are mostly black with grayish white tertials. Their tail is black. Their throat and underparts are white. Adult females have a buffy forehead and a black cap on an otherwise chestnut or rusty face. Their upperparts are a slightly darker gray than the male's with dusky brownish streaks and coarse blackish spots. Their wings and tail are like the male's. Their throat and underparts are washed with dingy pale grayish buff.The other subspecies of the black-capped tityra differ from the nominate and each other thus:T. i. fraserii: white nape and cheeks, darker back, white inner webs of primaries, and pale grayish white underparts; more brownish, less grayish, backT. i. albitorques: white cheeks and ear coverts, pale gray back, mostly white tail with black band near the end, and grayish underparts; unspotted variably brownish washed back and white lower belly and undertail covertsT. i. buckleyi: white cheeks and ear coverts and mostly black tail with white at its baseT. i. erythrogenys: less white on nape and very little white at base of tail; gray back without brown but with variable black spots, white throat and breast with slight grayish tingeT. i. pelzelni: tail mostly white
Both sexes of all subspecies have a dark iris, a bluish gray maxilla, a blackish mandible, and blackish legs and feet.
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the black-crowned tityra are found thus:T. i. fraserii: in Mexico "southeastern San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, eastern Puebla, northern Oaxaca, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and the Yucatan Peninsula"; from there south across northern Guatemala and south through Belize and southeastern Guatemala and eastern Honduras, eastern Nicaragua, and both sides of Costa Rica to central Panama including islands off Chiriquí ProvinceT. i. albitorques: eastern Panama, northern Colombia south in Magdalena River valley and along western Colombia into western Ecuador to Azuay Province; eastern Peru, northwestern Bolivia, and northwestern Brazil east along the Amazon to Manaus T. i. buckleyi: southern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador to Pastaza Province; possibly far northeastern PeruT. i. erythrogenys: Colombia east of the Andes east into Venezuela across the Guianas and northern Brazil north of the Amazon; in Venezuela west of the Andes, east of the Andes and across the country's northern half, and south through western Bolívar and western Amazonas statesT. i. pelzelni: northern and eastern Bolivia east into Brazil south of the Amazon River, where bound roughly by the Madeira River, eastern Maranhão, and Mato GrossoT. i. inquisitor: east and southeastern Brazil from southern Piauí south through western Bahia and beyond to northern Rio Grande do Sul, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina to Corrientes Province including eastern Formosa and Chaco provincesThe black-crowned tityra inhabits lowland evergreen forest and secondary forest in the tropical and lower subtropical zones. It favors the forest canopy and edges, clearings and areas along waterways. It also is found in plantations and várzea forest. In elevation it overall occurs from sea level to about. It reaches only in Ecuador, in Peru, and in Venezuela.