Tyrannus melancholicus

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Vegetation: tropical lowland evergreen forest, second-growth forests and woodlands, gallery forests, river edge and river island forests, arid lowland scrubs, second-growth scrub, tropical lowland evergreen forest • Maximum Elevation: 1,800 meters • Foraging Strata: Canopy • Center of Abundance: Lower tropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; tropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbance: Low

Typically found in a lake at a mean distance from sea level of 484 meters (1,588 feet).[1]

Ecology: List of Habitats :

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.7     Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level   
  
•     3     Shrubland   
  
•     3.5     Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry   
  
•     3.6     Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Moist   
  
•     5     Wetlands (inland)   
  
•     5.1     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls )   
  
•     5.4     Wetlands (inland) - Bogs , Marshes, Swamps , Fens , Peatlands   
  
•     14     Artificial/Terrestrial   
  
•     14.1     Artificial/Terrestrial - Arable Land   
  
•     14.2     Artificial/Terrestrial - Pastureland   
  
•     14.5     Artificial/Terrestrial - Urban Areas   
  
•     14.6     Artificial/Terrestrial - Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest   
[more info]

Biology

Diet

Primarily: Insects. Lesser Quantities of: Fruit.

Reproduction

• Nest Location: Mid-story/canopy nesting
• Nest Type: Open-cup
• Clutch Size: 3-4
• Length of Incubation : 15-16 days
• Days to Fledge : 18-19
• Number of Broods: 1

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 29-Nov-2006

Similar Species

Western Kingbird, Cassin's Kingbird, Couch's Kingbird

Members of the genus Tyrannus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 23 species and subspecies in this genus:

T. albogularis (White-Throated Kingbird) · T. caudifasciatus (Loggerhead Kingbird) · T. caudifasciatus caudifasciatus (Loggerhead Kingbird) · T. couchii (Thornscrub Kingbird) · T. crassirostris (Thick-Billed Kingbird) · T. crassirostris crassirostris (Thick-Billed Kingbird) · T. cubensis (Cuban Flycatcher) · T. dominicensis (Grey Kingbird) · T. dominicensis dominicensis (Gray Kingbird) · T. forficata (Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher) · T. forficatus (Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher) · T. melancholicus (Lichtenstein's Kingbird) · T. melancholicus chloronotus (Tropical Kingbird) · T. melancholicus couchi (Tropical Kingbird) · T. melancholicus melancholicus (Tropical Kingbird) · T. melancholicus occidentalis (Tropical Kingbird) · T. niveigularis (Snowy-Throated Kingbird) · T. savana (Swallow-Tailed Flycatcher) · T. savana savana (Fork-Tailed Flycatcher) · T. tyrannus (Tyrant Flycatcher) · T. verticalis (Arkansas Flycatcher) · T. vociferans (Cassin's Flycatcher) · T. vociferans vociferans (Cassin's Kingbird)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A List of birds' eggs in the collection of Mr. William Stoate, Wembdon, Bridgewater. [188-?] url p. 17.
• A catalogue of the collection of birds formed by the late Hugh Edwin Strickland. Cambridge, Univ. Press, 1882. url p. 317.
• A check list of North American birds. By Elliott Coues. Salem [Mass.]Naturalists' Agency, 1873 [i.e. 1874] url p. 51.
• A check list of North-American birds by Elliott Coues. Salem, Mass.: F.W. Putnam, 1879. url .
• A contribution to the ornithology of northeastern Brazil, by Charles E. Hellmayr. 12 1929 Chicago, 1929. url p. 308.
• A flying trip to the tropics. A record of an ornithological visit to the United States of Colombia, South America and to the island of Curaçao, West Indies, in the year 1892, Cambridge [Mass.]Riverside press, 1895. url p. 160, p. 70.
• A geographic classification of Neotropical mammals. 36 1958 [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1958. url p. 625.
• A history of North American birds / by S. F. Baird, T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. Boston: Little, Brown, 1905. url p. 315, p. 329.
• A history of North American birds land birds / by S. F. Baird, T.M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. Boston: Little, Brown, 1874. url p. 329.
• A history of North American birds, by S.F. Baird, T.M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. Land birds, illustrated by 64 chromo-lithographic plates and 593 woodcuts. Boston, Little, Brown, 1875. url p. 315, p. 329.
• A manual of North American birds. By Robert Ridgway. Illustrated by 464 outline drawings of the generic characters. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott company, 1896. url p. 624.
• A manual of North American birds. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1887. url p. 603.
• A naturalist in Brazil; the record of a year's observation of her flora, her fauna, and her people, by Konrad Guenther. .. translated by Bernard Miall. .. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931. url p. 395.
• Annals of the Carnegie Museum. [Pittsburgh]: Published by authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1901- url p. 339, p. 588.
• Annotated checklist of bird and mammal species of Cocha Cashu Biological Station, Manu National Park, Peru / John W. Terborgh, John W. Fitzpatrick, Louise Emmons. 21 1984 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1984. url table 2 , p. 23.
• Argentine ornithology. A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic. By P. L. Sclater. .. With notes on their habits by W. H. Hudson. .. London: R. H. Porter, 1888-89. url p. 111, p. 158, p. xii.
• Biologia centrali-americana: Aves / [London: R.H. Porter], 1879-1904. url , , .
• Bird-lore. New York, National Association of Audubon Societies. url p. 15.
• Birds / by Spencer Fullerton Baird; with the co-operation of John Cassin and George N. Lawrence. Washington, D.C., 1858. url , p. 176.
• Birds of La Plata / London: E. P. Dutton, 1920. url .
• Birds of La Plata, by W. H. Hudson, with twenty-two coloured illustrations by H. Gronvold. .. London [etc.]: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1920. url , p. 187, p. xv.
• Birds of the Colorado valley. .. scientific and popular information concerning North American ornithology; Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1878. url .
• Birds of the Marshall Field Peruvian Expedition, 1922-1923, by John T. Zimmer. .. 17 1930 Chicago, 1930. url p. 370.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url , p. 106, p. 11, p. 132, p. 138, p. 140, p. 176, p. 239, p. 257, p. 258, p. 263, p. 266, p. 273, p. 337, p. 41, p. 442, p. 50, p. 54, p. 542, p. 55, p. 551, p. 56, p. 59, p. 61, p. 64, p. 686, p. 688, p. 70, p. 700, p. 702, p. 705, p. 706, p. 82, p. 87, p. 90, p. 91, p. 99.
• Bulletin / Peabody Museum of Natural History. 1971 New Haven: Peabody Museum of Natural History, url p. 177, p. 177, p. 303, p. 313, p. 52, p. 52, p. 53, p. 53.
• Bulletin of entomological research. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. url p. 384.
• Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. New YorkAmerican Museum of Natural History1881- url p. 321.
• Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad: Dept. of Agriculture, 1914-1927. url p. 144, p. 145.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 50 1906 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 133, p. 133, p. 169, p. 170, p. 207, p. 264, p. 354, p. 377, p. 381, p. 381, p. 452, p. 478, p. 624, p. 651.
• Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, [1876-1883] url p. 202.
• California fish and game. [San Francisco, etc.]: State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game. url p. 127.
• Camps in the Caribbees: the adventures of a naturalist in the Lesser Antilles. Edinburgh, D. Douglas, 1880. url .
• Catalogue of a collection of American birds / belonging to Philip Lutley Sclater. London: N. Trubner and Co., 1862. url p. 235.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. initiated by Charles B. Cory, continued by Charles E. Hellmayr. 13 1927 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1927. url p. 106, p. 107, p. 108, p. 109.
• Catalogue of mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, of the Dominion of Canada Montréal?: s.n., 1878? url .
• Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. London, 1874-98. url p. 267, p. 273, p. 276.
• Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum / By E. W. Oates [and afterwards] by S. G. Reid [and] W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. London, 1901-12. url p. 215.
• Catalogue of the collection of birds' eggs in the British Museum (Natural History) London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1901-12. url p. 215.
• Check-list of North American birds / prepared by a committee of the American ornithologists' union. Lancaster, Pa.: The Union, 1931. url p. 202, p. 489, p. 507.
• Check-list of North American birds, New York, American ornithologists' union, 1910. url .
• Check-list of North American birds. [Ithaca, N.Y.]1957. url p. 333, p. 664, p. 665, p. 678.
• Check-list of North American birds: the species of birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands / prepared by the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Orni Lawrence, Kan.: American Ornithologists' Union, 1983. url p. 471, p. 804.
• Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1987. url p. 222, p. 223.
• Collected writings on mammals. [v.p.]1870-1908. url p. 142.
• Field Museum of Natural History bulletin. Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, [1930]-c1990. url p. 33.
• Field ornithology comprising a manual of instruction for procuring, preparing and preserving birds and a check list of North American birds / by Elliott Coues. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1874. url .
• Field ornithology. Comprising a manual of instruction for procuring, preparing and preserving birds, and a check list of North American birds Salem [Mass.]Naturalists' Agency, 1874 url p. 51.
• Foreign birds for cage and aviary. By Arthur G. Butler London, "The Feathered world"[191-?] url p. 307, p. 92.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. url p. 121, p. 123, p. 133, p. 178, p. 180, p. 197, p. 200, p. 202, p. 299, p. 303, p. 363, p. 373, p. 382, p. 404, p. 426, p. 438, p. 439, p. 440, p. 456, p. 469, p. 493, p. 499, p. 505, p. 558, p. 563, p. 596, p. 600, p. 63, p. 707, p. 87.
• List of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. London, Printed for the Society, 1896. url p. 304.
• Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, 1886- url p. 98.
• Nomenclature of North American birds chiefly contained in the United States National Museum. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1881. url , , .
• North American birds eggs, New York, Doubleday, Page & company, 1904. url .
• North American fauna. Washington: Fish and Wildlife Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U. S. Govt. Print. Off. url p. 97.
• On a collection of birds made by Messrs. J. E. Benedict and W. Nye of the United States Fish commission steamer "Albatross." By Robert Ridgway. url p. 173.
• Ornithological bibliography. [Washington: Geological Survey [etc.], 1878-1880. url p. 583.
• Ornithological gazetteer of Colombia / Raymond A. Paynter, Jr. Cambridge, Mass.: Bird Dept., Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 1997. url p. 507.
• Our search for a wilderness: an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana. New York: Holt, 1910. url p. 392.
• Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana, London, Constable, 1910. url .
• Postilla. 1965 New Haven, Conn.: Peabody Museum of Natural History, [1950?]-c2004. url p. 5, p. 58.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia url p. 143, p. 143, p. 207, p. 207.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 787.
• Proceedings of the International Ornithological Congress. [Canberra, etc.]Australian Academy of Science [etc.] url p. 474.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 1 1878 Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 140, p. 173, p. 185, p. 213, p. 236, p. 271, p. 285, p. 286, p. 473, p. 474, p. 479, p. 501, p. 504, p. 559, p. 576, p. 579, p. 58, p. 586, p. 598, p. 615, p. 617, p. 618, p. 621, p. 629, p. 641, p. 673.
• Report of the Commissioner for. .. / United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Washington: G.P.O., 1874-1905. url p. 91.
• Report on the froghopper-blight of sugar cane in Trinidad. Trinidad, B.W.I., Govt. Print. Off., 1921. url p. 71, p. 75.
• Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, A. O. P. Nicholson, printer [etc.]1855-60. url .
• Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement. Leyden, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. url p. 343.
• Seasonal status, relative abundance, and behavior of the birds of Concepción, Departamento Santa Cruz, Bolivia / Susan E. Davis. 71 1993 [Chicago, IL]: Field Museum of Natural History, [1993], c1992. url table 2 , p. 19, p. 23, p. 26, p. 27.
• Smithsonian contributions to knowledge. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1848-1916. url p. 511.
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Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• BirdLife International 2009. Tyrannus melancholicus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 04, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 8 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, "Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds," in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 04, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal British Columbia Museum
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Bird Collection
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• Senckenberg: Collection Aves (bird skeletons)
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM: CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2590
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-712725
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14659874
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 178282
• IUCN ID: 247875
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABPAE52010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 178174

Footnotes

1. Standard Deviation = 835.570 based on 1,097 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.