The brown-breasted bamboo tyrant or brown-breasted pygmy-tyrant is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina and Brazil.
Region
Atlantic Forest of Brazil and northeastern Argentina
Typical Environment
Occurs in humid montane and foothill Atlantic Forest, strongly associated with dense stands of native bamboo (especially Chusquea). It favors shaded understory, forest edges, and second-growth with well-developed bamboo thickets. The species is typically local where bamboo is abundant and may be patchy elsewhere. It is resident in southeastern and southern Brazil and reaches Misiones in northeastern Argentina.
Altitude Range
400–1600 m
Climate Zone
Subtropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A shy understory flycatcher, the brown-breasted bamboo tyrant is closely tied to dense bamboo thickets in the Atlantic Forest. It often reveals itself by its thin, high-pitched calls rather than by sight. The species builds a small domed nest with a side entrance low in vegetation. Although habitat loss is a concern regionally, it remains fairly common in suitable protected forests.
Temperament
shy and skulking
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with quick darting sallies
Social Behavior
Usually found singly or in pairs, often maintaining small territories within bamboo patches. It may join mixed-species understory flocks but typically keeps low and out of sight. Nests are compact, domed structures placed low in dense vegetation, with both parents caring for young.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song consists of thin, high-pitched whistles delivered in short, spaced series. Calls are sharp tsi or see notes that carry softly through dense understory.
Plumage
Olive-brown upperparts with a warm brown breast grading to a paler, buffy belly. Throat buff to whitish and two narrow buff wingbars on dusky wings. Short tail and compact, rounded appearance typical of pygmy-tyrants.
Diet
Primarily takes small insects and other arthropods, gleaned from bamboo leaves and stems or snatched in short sallies. It picks prey from the undersides of foliage and from dead leaf clusters. Small spiders and other soft-bodied invertebrates are also consumed.
Preferred Environment
Feeds almost exclusively in dense bamboo understory within humid forest. Most foraging occurs 0.5–3 m above ground in shaded, sheltered microhabitats.
