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Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith and Arne Lesterhuis and is used with permission.
SOOTY TYRANNULET Serpophaga nigricans
The genus Serpophaga contains a bunch of confusing little greyish tyrannulets, but of all the species involved this one is the one that will cause you the least problems when it comes to identification time. The only Serpophaga that occurs in marshy habitats, this drab-coloured flycatcher is an active forager, perching on emergent vegetation and snapping up any passing insects following a short, fluttery flight. Notice how he frequently fans his tail.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - Adult, Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Arne Lesterhuis July 2009).
FIGURE 2 - Same individual (Arne Lesterhuis July 2009).
FIGURE 3 Same individual dorsal view (Arne Lesterhuis July 2009).
FIGURE 4 - Adult ventral view, Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Paul Smith September 2009).
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FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 4
Serpophaga nigricans
1 call followed by aggressive interaction between two individuals recorded Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Paul Smith September 2009).
Click the link to hear the call. Longer versions of this call can be downloaded from the Paraguay page of our partner website Xeno-Canto - the largest collection of freely downloadable Neotropical bird calls available online.