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White-winged Black-Tyrant
knipolegus aterrimus

DESCRIPTION:
White-winged Black-Tyrant
Viudita Negra Común
Knipolegus aterrimus
Length: 170mm. Sexes unlike. Male: bill light blue grey with black tip; iris dark brown; plumage in head, body and tail entirely black with faint bluish sheen; wings black with a conspicuous white bar in remiges. Legs black.
Female: bill and iris as in male; upper parts of head, neck and back greyish brown; rump and uppertail coverts rusty cinnamon; rectrices ferruginous cinnamon to base and a broad dark brown terminal band. Foreneck, centre of breast, flanks, belly and undertail coverts cinnamon buff; sides of breast brown. Lesser wing coverts as back; median and greater coverts dark brown with margins forming cinnamon buff bars; remiges dark brown margined whitish buff and rusty cinnamon basal bar; underwing coverts and axillaries cinnamon. Legs dark brown with a bluish grey spot in upper tarsi, more extensive on inner portion than on outer part.
Young males resemble females. Habitat and behaviour: it inhabits xerophytic monte and arid shrubby country; found in pairs; it perches in higher and middle branches of bushes, where it can be frequently seen dashing off to prey on insects, that are caught on the wing, and looping back to the same perch. During the breeding season it performs interesting flight displays to defend its territory and is usually seen involved in long chases whenever an intruder wanders too close. In flight the wing bar is a telltale; perched the white bar is concealed. The nest is hidden among herbaceous vegetation on the ground; clutch size is up to three white eggs with reddish mottling. Range: distributed throughout the Patagonian steppe from Neuquén to Chubut.
Illustrated Handbook of the Birds of Patagonia
Kindless: Kovacs Family
 
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Photographs: Mariano Diez Peña


Birding Patagonia • Birdwatcing in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
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Photographs on the website: Mariano Diez Peña