Cliff Flycatcher (Hirundinea ferruginea)

Cliff Flycatcher Hirundinea ferruginea
(aka Swallow Flycatcher Hirundinea bellicosa according to the split made by Sibley & Monroe)

Brazilian name: gibão-de-couro

Brazil

As the name suggests, Cliff Flycatchers are to be found around cliffs and rocky canyons and are possibly the only tyrannid that builds its nest on cliffs and, nowadays, buildings.

It has a conspicuous cinnamon rufous-rump and base of the tail.

Cliff Flycatcher, Vargem Alta, Espírito Santo, Brazil, March 2004 - click for larger image

There are two distinct groups which have been split into two species by Sibley & Munroe but not, so far, by other authorities. This bird is of the subspecies Hirundinea ferruginea bellicosa which, together with H. f. pallidior forms the southern group found in south Brazil and Bolivia. The other group is found in the Andes (H. f. sclateri) and in the Guianas and Tepuis of northern Brazil / southern Venezuela(the nominate H. f. ferruginea)

Cliff Flycatcher, Camacã, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image

The bird in photo 4 has dull underparts and a smaller rufous window on its wings which suggests to me that it is a juvenile although this photo was taken early in the breeding season.

There are recordings and a distribution map on xeno-canto and access to additional information on Avibase.

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