{{short description|Species of bird}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{speciesbox | name = Lesser shrike-tyrant | image = Lesser Shrike-tyrant (Agriornis murinus) (15340988473).jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=Lesser Shrike-tyrant ''Agriornis murinus'' |volume=2024 |article-number=e.T22700114A263751323 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22700114A263751323.en |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref> | genus = Agriornis | species = murinus | authority = (D'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) | synonyms = | range_map = Agriornis murinus map.svg | range_map_caption = {{leftlegend|#FF7F2A|Breeding}}{{leftlegend|#8d5fd3|Year-round}}{{leftlegend|#87aade|Non-Breeding}} }}
The '''lesser shrike-tyrant''' ('''''Agriornis murinus''''') 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 and Paraguay and as a vagrant to Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.<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 lesser shrike-tyrant was formally described in 1837 as ''Pepoazae murina''.<ref>{{cite journal | last=d'Orbigny |first=Alcide |last2=de Lafresnaye |first2=Frédéric |title=Synopsis avium | date= 1837 | journal=Magasin de zoologie| volume=7 | page=63 |language=Latin |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37087509 |access-date=20 May 2025 }}</ref> For much of the twentieth century it was placed in genus ''Xolmis'' but by the 1980s most authors had transferred to genus ''Agriornis'' that was erected in 1839.<ref name=IOC15.1/><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>
The lesser shrike-tyrant is monotypic.<ref name=IOC15.1/>
==Description==
The lesser shrike-tyrant is {{convert|16|to|18.5|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long. Adult males have a gray-brown crown, mottled blackish and white lores, and a whitish or buffy supercilium and eye-ring. Their upperparts are gray-brown. Their wings are mostly dusky with whitish tips on the coverts and whitish edges on the inner flight feathers. Their tail is mostly dusky with pale grayish to white outer webs on the outermost pair pair of feathers. Their throat is white with thin black streaks, their breast very pale grayish brown, their flanks pale grayish brown with a buff tinge, and their belly creamy whitish. Adult females have almost the same plumage but the streaks on their throat are browner than the male's. Both sexes have a dark iris, a slender hooked black bill, and blackish legs and feet.<ref name=LEST-BOW>Farnsworth, A. and G. Langham (2020). Lesser Shrike-Tyrant (''Agriornis murinus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lessht1.01 retrieved May 20, 2025</ref><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 75, map 75.13 | isbn =0-691-09035-1 }}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat==
The lesser shrike-tyrant is found from central Bolivia south through western Paraguay and Argentina to northern Santa Cruz Province.<ref name=LEST-BOW/><ref name=Peña/> It has also been recorded as a vagrant in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.<ref name=SACCcountries/> It inhabits open areas with scrubby bushes and scattered trees and in the north also agricultural areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level to {{convert|2500|m|ft|abbr=on}}; it reaches that high point in Bolivia.<ref name=LEST-BOW/><ref name=Peña/>
==Behavior== ===Movement===
The lesser shrike-tyrant is migratory, but sources differ on the extent of its breeding and wintering ranges. BirdLife International (BLI) states that it is a complete migrant. However, its range map places it as a year-round resident in a smallish area of north-central Argentina. The map shows it as a breeding species in Argentina south of a line from southern Mendoza Province to southern Buenos Aires Province and as a non-breeding species north of that line in Argentina and through far western Uruguay and western Paraguay to central Bolivia. Their text generally concurs with the map, including its year-round residence in Argentina, but does not specify the species' seasonality in Paraguay.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-shrike-tyrant-agriornis-murinus |title=Lesser Shrike-tyrant |last=Rutherford |first=C. A. |date=2025 |website=DataZone |publisher=BirdLife International |access-date=May 20, 2025 }}</ref> The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World agrees with the BLI breeding range and most of its non-breeding range. However, it does not include BLI's year-round residence zone nor its non-breeding presence in Uruguay. It notes that the species has been recorded as a vagrant in far southern Brazil. It further notes "Survey work [is] required in order to establish precise limits of breeding range."<ref name=LEST-BOW/> The map in Peña's ''Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica'' agrees with the Cornell breeding and non-breeding ranges and like Cornell does not include a year-round range.<ref name=Peña/> The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society does not separately note breeding-only versus both breeding and non-breeding presence in a country; it places the lesser shrike-tyrant as, at a minimum, breeding in Argentina. It places the species as a non-breeder in Bolivia and Paraguay and as a vagrant in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.<ref name=SACCcountries/>
===Feeding===
The lesser shrike-tyrant has an eclectic diet that includes insects; other arthropods; small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians; and bird eggs and nestlings. It usually forages by itself. It perches on a bush and takes most prey by dropping to it on the ground; it sometimes takes it in mid-air by "hawking".<ref name=LEST-BOW/>
===Breeding===
The lesser shrike-tyrant's one known nest was a cup made from stems lined with grass and feathers. It was in a bush about {{convert|40|cm|in|abbr=on}} above the ground and held three eggs. Males make an aerial courtship display during which their flight feathers make a faint low-pitched whirr. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.<ref name=LEST-BOW/>
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Agriornis-murinus |species=the lesser shrike-tyrant}} ===Vocalization===
As of May 2025 xeno-canto had a single recording of a lesser shrike-tyrant call; the Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library had it and 11 others.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Agriornis-murinus |title=Lesser Shrike-Tyrant ''Agriornis murinus'' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2025 |website=xeno-canto |access-date=May 20, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=lessht1&mediaType=audio&sort=rating_rank_desc |title=Lesser Shrike-Tyrant ''Agriornis murinus'' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2025 |website=Birds of the World |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> The species is usually silent but makes "an occasional ''phooeeay'' descending" call.<ref name=Peña/>
==Status==
The IUCN has assessed the lesser shrike-tyrant as being of Least Concern. It has a very 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 uncommon to fairly common.<ref name=LEST-BOW/>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q268544}}
lesser shrike-tyrant Category:Birds of Argentina Category:Birds of Patagonia lesser shrike-tyrant Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Taxa named by Frédéric de Lafresnaye Category:Taxa named by Alcide d'Orbigny