A range extension and ecology of Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus josephinae in central Amazonian Brazil

Abstract

Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus josephinae occurs in north-east South America, but there are large gaps in its distribution and we know little of its natural history. We discovered a small population of H. josephinae at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project (BDFFP), 80 km north of Manaus, Brazil, a range extension of 60 km. In 2007-09, we located five territories at the BDFFP. The species foraged in disturbed areas within mature forest by hopping sideways along small horizontal branches in the subcanopy and by upward-strikes or aerially hawking for insects. We described four vocalisations, two of which have not been previously described. Home range size is between 4.6 ha (minimum convex polygon method) and 5.7 ha (95% kernel density estimate). We provide one of the first ecological descriptions of an Amazonian Hemitriccus and comparisons against closely related species should be conducted to understand the complicated phylogenetic relationships of this group. © British Ornithologists Club 2010.