{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{speciesbox | name = Austral negrito | image = {{CSS image crop |Image = Austral negrito (Lessonia rufa) male Laguna Nimez.jpg |bSize = 440 |cWidth = 220 |cHeight = 200 |oTop = 50 |oLeft = 120 }}
| image_caption = Male, El Calafate, Argentina | image2 = {{CSS image crop |Image = Austral negrito (Lessonia rufa) female Leona Amarga.jpg |bSize = 360 |cWidth = 220 |cHeight = 200 |oTop = 20 |oLeft = 30 }}
| image2_caption = Female, Torres del Paine, Chile | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=Austral Negrito ''Lessonia rufa'' |volume=2024 |article-number=e.T22700216A263763623 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22700216A263763623.en |access-date=24 April 2025}}</ref> | genus = Lessonia | species = rufa | authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | synonyms = | range_map = Lessonia rufa map.svg | range_map_caption = {{legend inline|#ff7f2a|Breeding }}{{legend inline|#87aade|Non-Breeding}} }}
The '''austral negrito''' or '''Patagonian negrito''' ('''''Lessonia rufa''''') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.<ref name=IOC15.1>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flycatchers/ |title=Tyrant flycatchers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 15.1 | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=March 2025 |access-date=3 March 2025 }}</ref> It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay and has occurred as a vagrant in Peru and on the Falkland Islands.<ref name=SACCcountries>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 30 March 2025. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved 30 March 2025</ref>
==Taxonomy and systematics==
The austral negrito was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the larks in the genus ''Alauda'' and coined the binomial name ''Alauda rufa''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=792 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656287 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Traylor | editor-first=Melvin A. Jr | author-link=Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=8 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=173 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14500950 }}</ref> The specific epithet is from Latin ''rufus'' meaning "red", "ruddy" or "rufous".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=341 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n341/mode/1up }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on "L'alouette noire à dos fauve" from Buenos Aires that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon and illustrated with a hand-colored engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1778 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=5 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | pages=23–24 | chapter=L'alouette noire à dos fauve | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069716w/f47.item }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Alouette noire, de la Encenada | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=8 | location=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 738, Fig. 2 | chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218371 }}</ref>
The austral negrito now shares genus ''Lessonia'' with the Andean negrito (''L. oreas''); that genus was erected in 1832 by William Swainson.<ref name=IOC15.1/> The two were long considered conspecific. Late in the twentieth century they were separated based primarily on plumage differences, and a 2014 publication added differences in feather structure and courtship displays to the evidence.<ref name=SACClist>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 30 March 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 30 March 2025</ref><ref name=Areta>Areta, J.I. and Miller, E.H. (2014). Display flight and mechanical sounds of the Andean Negrito (''Lessonia oreas''), with comments on the basic structure of flight displays in fluvicoline flycatchers. Orn. Neotrop. 25(1):95–105.</ref>
The austral negrito is monotypic.<ref name=IOC15.1/>
==Description==
The austral negrito is {{convert|11.5|to|12.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Adult males are mostly black with a rufous-chestnut back. Their flight feathers are black without the pale inner webs that the Andean negrito has. Adult females are smaller than males. They have a brownish gray crown, a white supercilium and cheek, and a dark brown "collar" on their nape and upper back. Their lower back is dull rufous-brown. Their wings and tail are black with whitish edges on the outer web of the outermost tail feathers. Their chin is whitish, their breast buffy white with grayish brown streaks, their flanks and belly buff, and their vent area whitish. Juveniles are similar to adult females but with a more rufescent back. Both sexes have a dark iris and a short black bill. Their legs and feet are black with exceptionally long hindclaws like those of a pipit.<ref name=AUNE-BOW>Farnsworth, A., D. J. Lebbin, and G. M. Kirwan (2025). Austral Negrito (''Lessonia rufa''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, E. de Juana, and F. Medrano, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ausneg1.01.1 retrieved April 24, 2025</ref>
==Distribution and habitat==
The austral negrito is found along the entire length of Chile to Cape Horn. It also is found from south-central Bolivia south through Argentina to Tierra del Fuego, across southern Paraguay, in far southern Brazil, and in Uruguay.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/><ref name=Peña>{{cite book | last =de la Peña | first =Martín R. | last2=Rumboll |first2=Maurice| title =Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica | publisher =Princeton University Press | series =Princeton Illustrated Checklists | date =2001 | location =New Jersey | pages =Plate 76, map 76.13| isbn =0-691-09035-1 }}</ref> There are records of vagrant individuals from Peru and the Falkland Islands.<ref name=SACCcountries/> In addition there is one record from King George Island in the South Shetlands and one at sea near Antarctica.<ref name=Gryz>{{Cite journal|last1=Gryz|first1=Piotr|last2=Korczak−Abshire|first2=Małgorzata|last3=Gerlée|first3=Alina|date=2015-09-01|title=First record of the Austral Negrito (Aves: Passeriformes) from the South Shetlands, Antarctica|journal=Polish Polar Research|volume=36|issue=3|pages=297–304|doi=10.1515/popore-2015-0018|issn=2081-8262|doi-access=free}}</ref> The austral negrito inhabits open grassy landscapes at the margins of lakes and marshes, coastal lagoons, beaches, and pastures. In elevation it mostly occurs below {{convert|1000|m|ft|abbr=on}} but locally is found as high as {{convert|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/><ref name=Peña/>
==Behavior== ===Movement===
The austral negrito is a complete migrant. It breeds in Chile from the Coquimbo Region south to Cape Horn and in Argentina from Mendoza and La Pampa provinces south into Tierra del Fuego. It vacates that area for the austral winter, moving north primarily to coastal northern Chile, northern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Paraguay and Bolivia. Males leave the breeding grounds before females and single-sex migrant flocks have been noted.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/><ref name=Peña/> It also winters in far southern Brazil<ref name=vanPerlo>{{cite book | last =van Perlo | first = Ber| title =A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =2009 | location =New York | pages =316–317 | isbn =978-0-19-530155-7 }}</ref> and a few individuals have also reached southern Peru<ref name=Schulenberg>{{cite book | last =Schulenberg | first =T.S. | last2 =Stotz | first2 =D.F. | last3 =Lane | first3 =D.F. | last4 =O'Neill | first4 =J.P. | last5 =Parker | first5 =T.A. III | title =Birds of Peru | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =revised and updated |series=Princeton Field Guides | date =2010 | location =Princeton, NJ | page =456 |isbn = 978-0-691-13023-1 }}</ref><!-- -->.
===Feeding===
The austral negrito feeds primarily on insects. The vagrant King George Island bird was seen feeding on algae in addition to taking insects from under it.<ref name=Gryz/> The species is mostly terrestrial but will often perch on rocks, low bushes, and fences. It mostly forages in pairs during the breeding season and often in small flocks on the wintering grounds. It typically catches prey between runs on the ground. It has been observed following livestock and people in pastures, apparently to catch insects disturbed by them.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/>
===Breeding===
The austral negrito breeds between September and November in mainland Chile, October to January on Tierra del Fuego, and October to January in Argentina. Males make a fluttering display flight as high as {{convert|10|to|15|m|ft|round=5|abbr=on}} above the ground. The species' nest is an open cup made from grass and other fibers lined with feathers. It is placed on the ground or on a cliff ledge and often hidden by vegetation. The clutch is two to four eggs. Females alone attend nestlings. The incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care are not known.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/>
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Lessonia-rufa |species=the austral negrito}}
===Vocalization===
The austral negrito is not highly vocal. Its alarm call is "a repeated ''tjit-tjit''" and its contact call "a short twitter".<ref name=AUNE-BOW/> Males call "''sipsipsipsip-sereen''" during their display flight.<ref name=Peña/>
==Status==
The IUCN has assessed the austral negrito as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.<ref name=IUCN/> It is considered fairly common to locally abundant and "increasingly common in [the southern] part of range". It occurs in all of the national parks in the Patagonian Andes.<ref name=AUNE-BOW/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite journal|last1=Azpiroz|first1=Adrián B.|last2=Isacch|first2=Juan Pablo|last3=Dias|first3=Rafael A.|last4=Di Giacomo|first4=Adrián S.|last5=Fontana|first5=Carla Suertegaray|last6=Palarea|first6=Cristina Morales|date=2012-08-24|title=Ecology and conservation of grassland birds in southeastern South America: a review|journal=Journal of Field Ornithology|volume=83|issue=3|pages=217–246|doi=10.1111/j.1557-9263.2012.00372.x|issn=0273-8570|hdl=11336/203537|hdl-access=free}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1267790}}
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austral negrito Category:Birds of Chile Category:Birds of Patagonia austral negrito austral negrito Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot