BLACK-TAILED TITYRA Tityra cayana
The largest and most numerous of the Tityras, a group of predominately black and white birds that inhabit the canopy of forested areas. Tityras are mainly fruit eaters and nest in holes in trees. They can be amongst the commonest of forest birds, but their habit of living high in dense foliage means that they can be easily overlooked. You are much more likely to hear their strange scratchy calls. This species is very similar to Masked Tityra which has a much more limited range in Paraguay - check the tail of males very carefully! Female Black-tailed Tityras are easy to identify, they are the only species that is streaky! Once considered to be closely-related to the Tyrant Flycatchers (Tyrannidae) Tityras are now known to be members of the newly-elevated "Schiffornis Assemblage" - Tityridae.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPAVE2338PH) Adult male ventral, location unknown (Frank Fragano undated).
FIGURE 2 - (FPAVE2339PH) Adult male dorsal, Departamento Ñeembucú (Alejandro González October 2002 - Paraguayanbirds.com).
FIGURE 3 - (FPAVE2340PH) Adult female, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Alberto Esquivel November 2004).
FIGURE 4 - (FPAVE2341PH) Same individual dorsal view (Alberto Esquivel November 2004).
FIGURE 5 - (FPAVE2342PH) Adult female emerging from nest, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith November 2007).
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Tityra cayana
1 (FPAVE2343RE) song  recorded PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
2 (FPAVE2344RE) song  recorded La Vencedora, Departamento Caaguazú (Myriam Velázquez August 2002).
3 (FPAVE2345RE) song  recorded Ocampos, Departamento Itapúa (Myriam Velázquez October 2001).
4 (FPAVE2346RE) variant call  recorded La Vencedora, Departamento Caaguazú (Myriam Velázquez August 2002).
5 (FPAVE2347RE) song  recorded  Ocampos, Departamento Itapúa (Myriam Velázquez October 2001). 
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.
Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith, Alberto Esquivel, Frank Fragano, Myriam Velázquez and Alejandro González and is used with their permission.