About Pitangus lictor (Lichtenstein, 1823)
The lesser kiskadee, scientifically named Pitangus lictor (Lichtenstein, 1823), is 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in) long and weighs approximately 25 g (0.88 oz). The sexes share identical plumage, though females are slightly smaller than males. For adult birds of the nominate subspecies, the crown and face are black or sooty, with a mostly hidden bright yellow patch at the center of the crown. They have a wide white supercilium that starts at the forehead and wraps almost fully around the nape. Their upperparts are mostly plain olive, with grayish brown to dark olive uppertail coverts. Their wings are dark grayish brown, with pale cinnamon or rufous edges along the flight feathers. Their tail is mostly dark grayish brown: the innermost pair of feathers has cinnamon or rusty outer edges, and the rest of the feathers have paler grayish brown outer edges. All tail feathers have thin pale cinnamon edges on their inner webs. Their chin and throat are white, and their underparts are bright yellow. The subspecies P. l. panamensis has identical plumage to the nominate subspecies, but is noticeably smaller. Juveniles have little to no yellow on the crown, more brownish olive upperparts, more prominent rufous edges on their wing and tail feathers, and paler underparts than adult birds. Both subspecies have a dark iris, a long slender blackish bill, and black to blackish brown legs and feet.
The lesser kiskadee has a disjunct distribution. The subspecies P. l. panamensis occurs from the Panama Canal Zone east along Colombia's Caribbean coast, extending slightly into northwestern Venezuela. The nominate subspecies has two separate populations: one ranges along eastern Brazil from Pernambuco south to Rio de Janeiro state, while the second is much larger. This larger population ranges from the eastern half of Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northern Bolivia, and east from this area across the northern half of Venezuela, the Guianas, and most of Amazonian Brazil. The species has also been recorded as a vagrant in Argentina. One researcher argues that the apparent gap between the two ranges of the nominate subspecies is an artifact caused by low sampling effort and overlooked early records from the intervening area. The lesser kiskadee lives in a variety of tropical zone landscapes, and is always found near water. Its habitats include marshy shrubby pasture, waterway-adjacent grasslands with shrubs, low trees and snags, wooded borders along streams, rivers and oxbow lakes, and sometimes mangroves and the edges of saltwater lagoons. In terms of elevation, it mostly ranges from sea level to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Brazil, but may occur higher locally. It reaches up to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Colombia and Ecuador, 750 m (2,500 ft) in Peru, and mostly up to 350 m (1,100 ft) in Venezuela, with one recorded sighting at 1,300 m (4,300 ft).
