White-headed Marsh Tyrant

Overview

The white-headed marsh tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) is a small passerine bird belonging to the tyrant flycatcher family. It is a diurnal species native exclusively to South America, characterised by sexual dimorphism and monogamous mating behaviour.

Identification

• Males possess a distinct white head with a small crest and white throat, contrasting sharply with a black body, dark brown irises, and black legs.
• The bill features a black upper mandible and a yellow lower mandible, and the bird measures approximately 13 centimetres in length.
• Females and juveniles have a white forecrown and throat with greyish-brown breast, flanks, wings, and tail, with the latter being more uniform and significantly darker.
• The species is usually quiet, emitting a high-pitched call "sedik!", and produces a deeper "dew-de-lewde" call during courtship.

Habitat

This species inhabits wetlands in tropical regions across South America, including marshes, bogs, swamps, fens, peatlands, rivers, streams, creeks, and moist savannas. It has also been recorded in rice fields in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Paraguay. While generally a resident bird, it may relocate if rapid environmental turnover creates suitable conditions.

Diet

As an insectivore, it primarily preys on flying insects such as dragonflies, grasshoppers, froghoppers, and beetles. The bird most frequently uses the sally strike technique, perching low on marsh plants less than two metres high to attack prey at a distance of three to four metres. It captures most prey at the water's surface, followed by insects in the air and on live leaves, and rarely forages on the ground.

Did you know?

In Satarem, Brazil, the marsh tyrant is known to the natives as "Mother of the Wasp" because many of its nests have been found within inches of the hive of a large species of wasp.