Shear-tailed Gray-Tyrant

21 cm. A large flycatcher of the uplands. Sexes alike. Slaty gray all over with a blackish eye stripe and ear stripe. Throat lighter. Wings and tail blackish gray, the tail very long and forked. <NJuvenile has the crown, back and wings scaled white Ridgely . Rarely vocal. Ridgely describes a "pup-pup-pup.." series. We have recorded a soft "tuk..tuk..tuk<CA>...tuk<CA>..." with emphasis on the last syllable. On cut 2 also twice a louder "wueed". Perches exposed on top of bushes and trees engaging in aerial hawks. Usually in pairs. Nest is an open cup built of grasses and a few sticks. A particular nest was less than 1 meter from the ground in a bush ^89 . Not uncommon but local in open secondary woodland, forest borders, scrubby slopes and pastures. Throughout, Serra do Mar, Serra Mantiqueira, Serra dos Org<C4>os, Rio de Janeiro ^15, Remold , Fazenda Intervales Remold . Mostly above 800 meters, reaching 2200 meters in the Serra Mantiqueira. 10729 Calls. Serra da Mantiqueira, Agulhas Negras road, 10<10>20<10>99. Clear, 20<91>C. High altitude scrub, 2200 meters. With /Mackenziaena leachii .: 8798 Call. Cornell Cat 57869. Iguazu National Park, Misiones, Argentina, 8<10>14<10>90. With /Geothlypis aequinoctialis, Drymophila malura, Cyclarhis gujanensis, Troglodytes aedon . Recording by D. W. Finch.: 1573 >: