Long-tailed Tyrant

How to find it

Look for it perched in the open on a bare high branch or dead snag at a forest edge or clearing. Its constant calls often give away its presence before you spot it, so once you hear it, scan the open branches. It usually returns to the same perch after darting out for an insect, so watch patiently. If it moves, check a few favorite trees nearby. Expect it at edges and clearings rather than inside dense forest. Lodge grounds can give close views.

How to recognise it

Look for a black bird with a white or gray crown, a white forehead and a white eyestripe.

The giveaway is the pair of very long central tail feathers.

In flight, a white or grayish patch shows on the middle of the back above the tail.

Males are larger than females and carry longer streamers, up to about 10 to 12 cm.

Females have shorter streamers, about 5 to 9 cm, plus a gray belly and a darker crown.

What it sounds like

Recording: Miguel A. Paixão, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It perches in the open on a bare high branch or dead snag, then darts out after flying insects and usually comes back to the same perch. It also moves between a few favorite trees.

On its perch it flicks its two long tail streamers up and down.

In Costa Rica it specializes in stingless bees. It hunts mostly in pairs or small family groups and does not join mixed-species feeding flocks.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives in the canopy and edges of humid forest, secondary growth and nearby clearings, up to about 1500 m. In Costa Rica it reaches about 600 m and is described as fairly common.

A photo from the Caribbean lowlands near Boca Tapada shows one in the Río San Carlos floodplain at about 39 m, in humid rainforest with large cleared farmland areas. It is found from north to south, but mostly on the Caribbean slope.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the bird is called Mosquero Coludo. Other countries use different Spanish names, such as Yetapá Negro in Argentina, Atrapamoscas Rabijunco in Colombia and Tirano Colilargo in Honduras.

Status and conservation

The official list of Costa Rican birds (AOCR) marks it R, a resident species, and it is not globally threatened, with a stable population (Least Concern).

Photography tips

Lodge grounds can give close views: one photographer got very close shots of a bird that posed at breakfast in Boca Tapada. Otherwise, listen for the calls, then scan bare high branches at edges and clearings, where it sits in the open.