Family Tyrant-flycatchers (Tyrannidae)
Least Concern
Tumbes Tyrannulet (Phaeomyias tumbezana)
Taxonomy
French: Tyranneau de Tumbes German: Tumbeskleintyrann Spanish: Piojito de Tumbes
Taxonomy:
Phyllomyias tumbezana
Taczanowski
, 1877,Tumbes, Peru
.
Subspecies and Distribution
P. t. tumbezana
(Taczanowski, 1877) – Pacific lowlands of SW Ecuador (C Manabí to W Loja) and NW Peru (Tumbes, E Piura, NE Lambayeque).
P. t. inflava
Chapman, 1924 – arid NW Peru from C Piura and C Lambayeque S to N Lima.
P. t. maranonica
J. T. Zimmer, 1941 – arid NC Peru in Marañón Valley, W Amazonas, E Cajamarca and E La Libertad.
Descriptive notes
12–12·5 cm; 10–13 g. Rounded head with indistinct whitish supercilium; drab brownish grey above with vaguely ochraceous or buff wingbars on dusky background; throat, breast... read more
Voice
Nominate gives a sneezy or buzzing “dzeek!” or “dzz-chew!”, whereas race maranonica utters... read more
Habitat
Perhaps most abundant in desert scrub, light woodland, gardens and dry forest, but also occurs in... read more
Food and feeding
No known differences in diet and foraging behaviour between this species and P. murina.
Breeding
Season post-rains, early Feb to mid Apr, although territories occupied from Nov (at least in nominate race in SW Ecuador) and dependent... read more
Movements
None definitely known, but is only present seasonally at some localities, e.g. Cerro Blanco, near... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common to common across most of distribution, and is known from several protected areas in both Ecuador and Peru. Like... read more
Until recently#R considered conspecific with P. murina, but differs in its larger size (effect size for tail 2.05, score 2); whitish vs yellowish belly (2); blacker bill (1); vaguer, buffier wingbars (1); distinctly different song, a short phrase of about five notes, typically a few very squeaky and a few rather gravelly, vs a usually gravelly nervous series of notes which suddenly increases in amplitude and pitch, “je-je-je-je-jE-JE-JEE-Ju”, with minor variations (last note lower in pitch and amplitude), hence major difference in amplitude ratio (3) and number of notes (3)#R; split supported by molecular evidence#R. Three subspecies recognized.