All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Tropical Kingbird
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Tropical Kingbird | Tyrannus melancholicus
Tropische koningstiran | Tirano tropical
The Tropical Kingbird is one of the most frequently seen birds of the guide area: a grey-headed tyrant flycatcher with a yellow belly that perches on wires, posts and bare branches above open country and catches flying insects from there. It lives in almost all of the lowlands, from northern Mexico to Panama.
Voice
A high, rapid, twittering trill, pi-pi-pirrrr, especially at dawn but also during the day; also single high pip notes.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
20–23 cm, with a heavy, fairly long dark bill and a notched brown tail without white edges. Head grey with a darker grey mask and a concealed orange crown patch. Back greyish green to olive-grey, wings brown with pale edges. Throat pale grey to whitish, breast yellow washed olive, belly bright yellow. Male and female are alike; juveniles have paler edges to the wing feathers.
Confusion species
Couch's Kingbird Tyrannus couchii (Atlantic slope of Mexico to Belize and northern Guatemala) is almost identical and in the field is mainly told by voice; it has a slightly shorter, thicker bill and a slightly greener back. Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis has a pale grey head and breast and a black tail with white outer edges. Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans has a darker grey head and breast with a sharply defined white chin, and a pale tip to the tail. Thick-billed Kingbird Tyrannus crassirostris has a much thicker bill, a darker head and a pale yellow belly.
Habitat
Almost any open or semi-open landscape with perches: villages and towns, parks, gardens, pasture with trees, forest edges, riverbanks, mangroves and savanna, from the lowlands into the lower mountains. It hunts flying insects from a high, exposed perch and also eats fruit. The nest is a shallow, open cup in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
From northern Mexico through all of Central America to Panama. Outside the guide area locally in southern Arizona and Texas and in almost all of tropical South America, to Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the lowlands seen almost everywhere on power lines along roads. Where Couch's Kingbird also occurs, voice is the only reliable feature.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Very common and benefits from deforestation, roads and settlement.
Scientific name
Tyrannus melancholicus | Vieillot, 1819
Vieillot described the species in 1819 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Tyrannus was introduced in 1799 by De Lacépède. Tyrannus is Latin (from Greek turannos) for 'tyrant, despot', after the aggressive way these birds drive off even raptors. melancholicus is Latin (from Greek melankholikos) for 'melancholy, gloomy', presumably after the dark grey head and sombre look. The specimen the first description was based on came from Paraguay.