This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.
A handsome bird of open landscapes, the Chocolate-vented Tyrant (Neoxolmis rufiventris) is an unusual species to be included among the so-called “flycatchers.” Inhabiting flat grassland and scrub, this bird is primarily a ground-dweller, rarely seen higher than a fencepost or tussock. Furthermore, this flycatcher is not one to catch insects on the wing (to “fly-catch” in ornithology lingo), preferring instead to hunt its prey on the ground. In keeping with this terrestrial lifestyle, the Chocolate-vented Tyrant has notably long legs and is more likely to run or walk than to hop or fly. In combination with its large size and rusty belly, the tyrant’s appearance and behavior are reminiscent of birds in the thrush family, such as the American Robin.
The Chocolate-vented Tyrant breeds in the cold, dry, and infamously windy Patagonian Steppe, also known as the Patagonian Desert. In an environment largely devoid of trees, this bird takes advantage of the open sky to perform an expansive aerial display, similar to other birds like the Red Knot and American Woodcock that use flat, open habitat in the breeding season. The Chocolate-vented Tyrant is also known to forage alongside wintering shorebirds — yet another habit unusual for its family, but typical of others, like the groups of sandpipers and plovers it sometimes joins.
Also know as: Monjita chocolate (Spanish), Gaúcho-chocolate (Portuguese)
Learn more at https://abcbirds.org/birds/chocolate-vented-tyrant/
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