Rufous-tailed Attila Attila phoenicurus Scientific name definitions

The Rufous-tailed Attila is a rare, migratory flycatcher of eastern South America.  In the austral winter, the species retreats north into the Amazon basin from its restricted breeding haunts in southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and Misiones, Argentina.  The species prefers the higher parts of humid forest and has been noted to occur in Araucaria forest.  It is fairly large and rufous overall with a dark gray head; the underparts are paler and yellower than the rufous upperparts.  Like other Attila species, this bird has a long, thick, hooked bill and is rather vocal; Rufous-tailed Attila has a querulous, whistled three part call which is useful in detecting this poorly-known flycatcher.

17·6–18 cm; 32·3–34·5 g. Dark eye, dark brown to blackish bill shorter and rounder than in other attilas, usually with small white area at base at lower mandible. Dark grey head and nape contrast with deep rufous upperparts, slightly paler uppertail-coverts and tail; blackish primaries; cinnamon-rufous below, small whitish area on chin, broad but indistinct deep rufous breastband. Differs from A. citriniventris in rufous throat, more contrast between grey head and brownish back, darker rump. Sexes alike.

SE Brazil (Rio de Janeiro S to Rio Grande do Sul), probably also in NE Argentina (Misiones) and E Paraguay; migrants widely scattered in Paraguay, E Bolivia, C Brazil and N to S Venezuela during austral winter.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Rare to locally common; perhaps often overlooked. Limits of breeding range imperfectly known. Particularly numerous in the Serro do Mar (São Paulo), but rare at Saibadela Research Station in Intervales State Park. Occurs also in Fazenda Vale da Revolta (near Teresópolis and Macaé de Cima), Nova Friburgo, and in Aparados da Serra and Itatiaia National Parks. Has been recorded in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, in Bolivia, and Ybycuí National Park, in Paraguay, but these records are perhaps of austral migrants, while a recent record from Corrientes, in NE Argentina, at Mburucuyá National Park, might indicate that the species is slightly more widespread in that country than previously suspected, but the possibility that the bird was a vagrant cannot be eliminated (1 García, N.C., Trujillo-Arias, N., Kopuchian, C. and Cabanne, G.S. (2016). First documented record of the Rufous-tailed Attila (Tyrannidae) for Corrientes, Argentina. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia. 24(1): 68–71. Close ).