Sharp-tailed Tyrant Culicivora caudacuta Scientific name definitions

In life this attractive little flycatcher is one that is much sharper looking than the books make it out to be. It is a small and slim flycatcher with a long narrow tail. Sharp-tailed Tyrants have short, relatively thick black bills and a well patterned face with a dark cap, bright white supercilium and blackish mask; the upperparts are striped brown and tawny, and there is a vivid tawny wash to the breast sides, flanks and the sides of the face. This is a flycatcher of conservation concern that is declining at a noticeable rate. It is found in tall dry native grassland, campo cerrado habitat. This habitat is quickly disappearing due to conversion into soybean fields, ranching, or even pine and eucalyptus plantations. The preferred habitat is “old growth” grassland, where Loudetia grasses reach 2m in height, not areas that are burned annually as is often the case in parts of its range.

Locally in C & E Bolivia (La Paz, Beni, Santa Cruz), C & S Brazil (Tocantins (1 Dornas, T. and Crozariol, M.A. (2012). Aves associadas a ambiente de veredas na Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins com novos registros para a região e nota sobre população local de Culicivora caudacuta. Atualidades Orn. On-line 169: 54–65. In Portuguese. Close ) and S Bahia S to Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, S Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná; also Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), E Paraguay and N Argentina (S to Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Corrientes).

VULNERABLE. Previously considered Near Threatened. Mostly rare and very localized; locally fairly common; possibly most abundant and widespread in E Bolivia. Habitat loss probably the main factor behind its current rarity. By 1993, two-thirds of cerrado region in C Brazil had been heavily or moderately altered; most habitat conversion for eucalypt (Eucalyptus) and pine (Pinus) plantations, livestock farming, and large-scale cultivation of soybeans, rice and other exportable crops has occurred since 1950, encouraged by government land reform. Outside protected areas, few remaining undisturbed areas may soon be degraded by spreading fires and overgrazing, or may completely disappear through agricultural conversion. Moreover, breeding pairs apparently confined to dry grassland; abundance thus highest in protected areas, e.g. in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park and Beni Biosphere Reserve, in Bolivia, Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve, in Paraguay, and Brasília, Emas and Serra da Canastra National Parks, all in Brazil. If habitat conversion is not halted, the species’ conservation status will probably have to be upgraded to that of Vulnerable. In Paraguay, for example, it appears locally extinct in Orient, where no records since 1932. On other hand, recent range expansions recorded in Bolivia (La Paz) and Argentina (Entre Ríos) and recently rediscovered in E Paraguay.