The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is the most diverse avian family in every country in the Americas, except for the United States and Canada. The members vary greatly in shape, patterns, size, and colors. Some tyrant flycatchers may superficially resemble the Old World flycatchers, which they are named after but are not closely related to. The Tyrannidae is a member of suborder Tyranni (suboscines), a group that lacks the sophisticated vocal capabilities of the songbirds (oscines).del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Christie, D. (editors). (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions.
A number of species previously included in this family are now placed in the family Tityridae (see Systematics). Sibley and Alquist in their 1990 bird taxonomy had the genera Mionectes, Leptopogon, Pseudotriccus, Poecilotriccus, Taenotriccus, Hemitriccus, Todirostrum and Corythopis as a separate family Pipromorphidae, but although it is still thought that these genera are basal to most of the family, they are not each other's closest relatives.
Description Most species are rather plain, with various hues of brown, gray and white commonplace, often providing some degree of presumed camouflage. Obvious exceptions include the bright red vermilion flycatcher, blue, black, white and yellow many-colored rush-tyrant and some species of tody-flycatchers or tyrants, which are often yellow, black, white and/or rufous, from the Todirostrum, Hemitriccus and Poecilotriccus genera. Several species have bright yellow underparts, from the ornate flycatcher to the great kiskadee. Some species have erectile crests. Several of the large genera (i.e. Elaenia, Myiarchus or Empidonax) are quite difficult to tell apart in the field due to similar plumage and some are best distinguished by their voices. Behaviorally, they can vary from species such as spadebills which are tiny, shy and live in dense forest interiors to kingbirds, which are relatively large, bold, inquisitive and often inhabit open areas near human habitations. As the name implies, a great majority of tyrant flycatchers are almost entirely insectivorous (though not necessarily specialized in flies). Tyrant flycatchers are largely opportunistic feeders and often catch any flying or arboreal insect they encounter. However, food can vary greatly and some (like the large great kiskadee) will eat fruit or small vertebrates (e.g. small frogs). In North America, most species are associated with a "sallying" feeding style, where they fly up to catch an insect directly from their perch and then immediately return to the same perch. Most tropical species, however, do not feed in this fashion and several types prefer to glean insects from leaves and bark. Tropical species are sometimes found in mixed-species foraging flocks, where various types of passerines and other smallish birds are found feeding in proximity.
The smallest family members are the closely related short-tailed pygmy tyrant and black-capped pygmy tyrant from the genus Myiornis (the first species usually being considered marginally smaller on average). These species reach a total length of and a weight of . By length, they are the smallest passerines on earth, although some species of Old World warblers apparently rival them in their minuscule mean body masses if not in total length.CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, 2nd Edition by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (2008), . The minuscule size and very short tail of the Myiornis pygmy tyrants often lend them a resemblance to a tiny ball or insect. The largest tyrant flycatcher is the great shrike-tyrant at and . A few species such as the streamer-tailed tyrant, scissor-tailed flycatcher and fork-tailed flycatcher have a larger total length — up to in the fork-tailed flycatcher at least — but this is mainly due to their extremely long tails; the fork-tailed flycatcher has the longest tail feathers of any known bird relative to their size (this being in reference to true tail feathers, not to be confused with elongated tail streamers as seen in some from the Phasianidae family of galliforms).
Habitat and distribution Species richness of Tyrannidae, when compared to habitat, is highly variable, although most every land habitat in the Americas has at least some of these birds. The habitats of tropical lowland evergreen forest and montane evergreen forest have the highest single site species diversity while many habitats including rivers, palm forest, white sand forest, tropical deciduous forest edge, southern temperate forest, southern temperate forest edge, semi-humid/humid montane scrub, and northern temperate grassland have the lowest single species diversity. The variation between the highest and the lowest is extreme; ninety species can be found in the tropical lowland evergreen forests while the number of species that can be found in the habitats listed above typically are in the single digits. This may be due in part to the fewer niches found in certain areas and therefore fewer places for the species to occupy.
Tyrannidae specialization among habitats is very strong in tropical lowland evergreen forests and montane evergreen forests. These habitat types, therefore, display the greatest specialization. The counts differ by three species (tropical lowland evergreen forests have 49 endemic species and montane evergreen forests have 46 endemic species). It can be assumed that they both have similar levels of specialization.
Regionally, the Atlantic Forest has the highest species richness with the Chocó following closely behind.
Status and conservation The northern beardless tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918."List of Migratory Bird Species Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as of December 2, 2013" U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service This species is common south of the US border. The situation for a number of other species from South and Central America is far more problematic. In 2007, BirdLife International (and consequently IUCN) considered two species, the Minas Gerais tyrannulet and Kaempfer's tody-tyrant critically endangered. Both are endemic to Brazil. Additionally, seven species were considered endangered and eighteen species vulnerable.BirdLife International (2007). Species factsheets. Accessed 12 December 2007 available online
Systematics The family's name is derived from an early description of the eastern kingbird as "the tyrant" by naturalist Mark Catesby in the 1730s. Carl Linnaeus adopted that name for the entire family Tyrannidae, because he admired Catesby's work.
The family contains 441 species divided into 104 genera. A full list, sortable by common and binomial names, is at list of tyrant flycatcher species. Species in the genera Tityra, Pachyramphus, Laniocera and Xenopsaris were formerly placed in this family, but evidence suggested they belong in their own family, the Tityridae,Adopt the Family Tityridae – South American Classification Committee (2007) where they are now placed by SACC.
Image Genus Species Piprites Wing-barred piprites, Piprites chloris Grey-headed piprites, Piprites griseiceps Black-capped piprites, Piprites pileata Phyllomyias Planalto tyrannulet, Phyllomyias fasciatus Yungas tyrannulet, Phyllomyias weedeni Greenish tyrannulet, Phyllomyias virescens Reiser's tyrannulet, Phyllomyias reiseri Urich's tyrannulet, Phyllomyias urichi Sclater's tyrannulet, Phyllomyias sclateri Grey-capped tyrannulet, Phyllomyias griseocapilla Sooty-headed tyrannulet, Phyllomyias griseiceps Plumbeous-crowned tyrannulet, Phyllomyias plumbeiceps Acrochordopus Rough-legged tyrannulet, Acrochordopus burmeisteri White-fronted tyrannulet, Acrochordopus zeledoni Tyranniscus Black-capped tyrannulet, Tyranniscus nigrocapillus Ashy-headed tyrannulet, Tyranniscus cinereiceps Tawny-rumped tyrannulet, Tyranniscus uropygialis Tyrannulus Yellow-crowned tyrannulet,Tyrannulus elatus Myiopagis Gray-headed elaenia, Myiopagis caniceps Choco elaenia, Myiopagis parambae Amazonian elaenia, Myiopagis cinerea Jamaican elaenia, Myiopagis cotta Yellow-crowned elaenia, Myiopagis flavivertex Forest elaenia, Myiopagis gaimardii Foothill elaenia, Myiopagis olallai Pacific elaenia, Myiopagis subplacens Greenish elaenia, Myiopagis viridicata Elaenia Yellow-bellied elaenia, Elaenia flavogaster Caribbean elaenia, Elaenia martinica Large elaenia, Elaenia spectabilis Noronha elaenia, Elaenia ridleyana White-crested elaenia, Elaenia albiceps Chilean elaenia, Elaenia chilensis Small-billed elaenia, Elaenia parvirostris Olivaceous elaenia, Elaenia mesoleuca Slaty elaenia, Elaenia strepera Mottle-backed elaenia, Elaenia gigas Brownish elaenia, Elaenia pelzelni Plain-crested elaenia, Elaenia cristata Lesser elaenia, Elaenia chiriquensis Coopmans's elaenia, Elaenia brachyptera Rufous-crowned elaenia, Elaenia ruficeps Mountain elaenia, Elaenia frantzii Highland elaenia, Elaenia obscura Small-headed elaenia, Elaenia sordida Great elaenia, Elaenia dayi Sierran elaenia, Elaenia pallatangae Tepui elaenia, Elaenia olivina Greater Antillean elaenia, Elaenia fallax Ornithion Brown-capped tyrannulet, Ornithion brunneicapillus White-lored tyrannulet, Ornithion inerme Yellow-bellied tyrannulet, Ornithion semiflavum Camptostoma Northern beardless tyrannulet, Camptostoma imberbe Southern beardless tyrannulet, Camptostoma obsoletum Suiriri Suiriri flycatcher, Suiriri suiriri Mecocerculus White-throated tyrannulet, Mecocerculus leucophrys White-tailed tyrannulet, Mecocerculus poecilocercus Buff-banded tyrannulet, Mecocerculus hellmayri Rufous-winged tyrannulet, Mecocerculus calopterus Sulphur-bellied tyrannulet, Mecocerculus minor White-banded tyrannulet, Mecocerculus stictopterus Anairetes Ash-breasted tit-tyrant, Anairetes alpinus Black-crested tit-tyrant, Anairetes nigrocristatus Pied-crested tit-tyrant, Anairetes reguloides Yellow-billed tit-tyrant, Anairetes flavirostris Juan Fernández tit-tyrant, Anairetes fernandezianus Tufted tit-tyrant, Anairetes parulus Uromyias Agile tit-tyrant, Uromyias agilis Unstreaked tit-tyrant, Uromyias agraphia Serpophaga Torrent tyrannulet, Serpophaga cinerea River tyrannulet, Serpophaga hypoleuca Sooty tyrannulet, Serpophaga nigricans White-crested tyrannulet, Serpophaga subcristata Straneck's tyrannulet, Serpophaga griseicapilla Nesotriccus Mouse-colored tyrannulet, Nesotriccus murinus Cocos tyrannulet, Nesotriccus ridgwayi Tumbesian tyrannulet, Nesotriccus tumbezanus Maranon tyrannulet, Nesotriccus maranonicus Capsiempis Yellow tyrannulet, Capsiempis flaveola Polystictus Bearded tachuri, Polystictus pectoralis Grey-backed tachuri, Polystictus superciliaris Pseudocolopteryx Crested doradito, Pseudocolopteryx sclateri Subtropical doradito, Pseudocolopteryx acutipennis Dinelli's doradito, Pseudocolopteryx dinelliana Warbling doradito, Pseudocolopteryx flaviventris Ticking doradito, Pseudocolopteryx citreola Pseudotriccus Bronze-olive pygmy tyrant, Pseudotriccus pelzelni Rufous-headed pygmy tyrant, Pseudotriccus ruficeps Hazel-fronted pygmy tyrant, Pseudotriccus simplex Corythopis Ringed antpipit, Corythopis torquatus Southern antpipit, Corythopis delalandi Euscarthmus Fulvous-crowned scrub tyrant, Euscarthmus meloryphus Fulvous-faced scrub tyrant, Euscarthmus fulviceps Rufous-sided scrub tyrant, Euscarthmus rufomarginatus Pseudelaenia Grey-and-white tyrannulet, Pseudelaenia leucospodia Stigmatura Lesser wagtail-tyrant, Stigmatura napensis Bahia wagtail-tyrant, Stigmatura bahiae Greater wagtail-tyrant, Stigmatura budytoides Caatinga wagtail-tyrant, Stigmatura (budytoides) gracilis Zimmerius Guatemalan tyrannulet, Zimmerius vilissimus