VIUVINHA (AS KNOWN IN BRAZIL)

Colonia Colonus

The Long-Tailed Tyrant is a shy and graceful bird. It measures from 9 to 11 inches, with a unique silhouette highlighted by the long tail feathers. It displays black plumage, with the top of its head in beautiful contrast with white. It's also known as White-Backed Flycatchers.

It feeds on insects that it hunts during its flights. Its nests are made in abandoned woodpecker cavities, and the chicks already leave the nest with adult plumage. Very active in the early morning and late afternoon, it disappears during the hottest hours, moving to perches in the treetops, hidden by the foliage. The Long-Tailed Tyrant is territorial, living solitarily or in pairs, always in dry forests, riparian forests, or savannahs. It's common in small clearings in forested regions, forest edges, and Brazilian capoeiras, usually atop dead trees.

In Brazil, it can be found in the peripheral region of the Amazon basin, up to Rondônia, Marajó Island (Pará), and Maranhão, and throughout the rest of Brazil to Rio Grande do Sul.