Fun Northern Beardless Tyrannulet Facts For Kids

Northern beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) is a flycatcher that acts differently than other U.S. flycatchers. While other flycatchers found in the U.S. sit upright on exposed perches, this little flycatcher acts keeps hopping from branch to branch, more like a Vireonidae. This bird is can be found in its habitat in the tropics and is common in Mexico and the Central United States. It has a flitting nature that will definitely catch your eyes if you come across it, and if that doesn't catch your attention, its plaintive whistles and calls definitely will. Like other flycatchers, especially the Empidonax flycatchers, the northern beardless Tyrannulet also flick their tail. Their unique name is because they lack the specialized bristles around their mouth and base of the bill, which help other flycatchers capture flying insects more easily.  Due to the lack of these specialized bristles, these birds focus on easily captured and slower-moving insects than the other species of flycatchers.

To learn more about these fascinating tiny birds, read on.

If you love reading about this bird, you may also want to read about house finches and blue and yellow macaws.

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What type of animal is a northern beardless Tyrannulet?

The northern beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) is a tiny gray bird belonging to the family of flycatchers.

What class of animal does a northern beardless Tyrannulet belong to?

This bird belongs to the family known as Aves.

How many northern beardless Tyrannulets are there in the world?

The global worldwide population of this species of bird is estimated to be around 500,000-50,000,000 mature individuals. Their population status is increasing and conservation status is Least Concern.

Where does a northern beardless Tyrannulet live?

This bird is mostly found in North America, Central America, and Mexico. In the United States, The northern beardless Tyrannulet range is from Southern Arizona to New Mexico and they are abundantly found even near the tip of Southern Texas. They are also found in southeastern Arizona and northwestern Costa Rica.

What is a northern beardless Tyrannulet's habitat?

These boards can be found in woodlands, stream thickets, mesquites, and lower canyons. In North America, its habitat is woods near streams flowing through the dry country. In Arizona, it can be found in cottonwood-willow groves and mesquites. In parts of Texas, it can be found in woodlands of huisache, hackberry, ebony, and mesquites. In Costa Rica, a variety of dry woods and semi-open areas are common habitats for these birds.

Who do northern beardless Tyrannulets live with?

The Tyrannulets often perches on the tree alone, but sometimes many members of its species can be found on a single tree.

How long does a northern beardless Tyrannulets live?

The average age of the birds of this species is around four years. The oldest one of these birds is known to have lived around four years and eight months.

How do they reproduce?

The reproduction and nesting behavior of this species is not properly known. Males often sing whistled songs to defend their nesting areas in spring and summer. Nesting is mostly done on trees or large shrubs, usually 10-30 in (25-76 cm) high. The northern beardless Tyrannulet's nest is situated inside clumps of mistletoe, the old tents of caterpillar web, or trees with many clumps, where they can be perfectly camouflaged.  Nest are the size and shape of a baseball and have a high entrance on one side which is made up of weeds, and grasses lined down with feathers and soft plants. The eggs are finely marked with brown and gray dots. These dots are mostly present at the larger end. Incubation details of this species are poorly known but both the parents feed the young. The development of the young ones and the age of the first flight is also not known in this species.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status of the birds of this species is of Least Concern as listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN. Moreover, the population trend is known to be increasing.

What do northern beardless Tyrannulets look like?

The orthern beardless Tyrannulet, order Passeriformes, family Tyrannidae, is a small overall pale gray flycatcher. It has a big head that is peaked at the rear, with a short, narrow tail and a slender body. The bill of this bird is stubby and short. The base of the bill is of yellow-orange color. These species of birds have a sharper bill than that of other U.S. flycatchers. Both males and females of this species are grayish-olive. They have a darker neck and crown than the rest of the body and have pale underparts.  They have two buffy or dull white wing bars but the wings are blackish in color. The juveniles of this species look familiar to adults but have broader wing bars of cinnamon color.

How cute are they?

These small gray birds are very cute because of their size and light color pattern.

How do they communicate?

The northern beardless Tyrannulet call is limited when it comes to communication. The most well-known call is a thin 'tee-tee-tee-tee-tee'. This sound is loudest in the middle and is also used as three long notes followed by a trill. The birds are quite active and also have been known to make whistles of 'dee-dee-dee' which are descending and plaintive.

How big is a northern beardless Tyrannulet?

The birds of this species have an average wingspan of 7.1 in (18 cm). They are approximately 4.4-4.5 in (11.5-14 cm) in length. They are sparrow-sized and sometimes smaller. It can be said to be larger than a bushtit and smaller than a western kingbird.

How fast can a northern beardless Tyrannulet fly?

The speed of flight of the birds of this species is not known yet.

How much does a northern beardless Tyrannulet weigh?

The northern beardless Tyrannulet weighs almost 0.3 oz (7.5 g). A seaside sparrow is bulkier than this bird.

What are the male and female names of the species?

A male of the species is called a cock and a female is called a hen.

What would you call a baby northern beardless Tyrannulet?

The name of the young ones of this bird is 'chick', just like the babies of any other bird.

What do they eat?

The main diet of these birds is insects. They feed on small, slow-moving insects like scale insects, bottle larvae, fly pupae, moths, caterpillars, treehoppers, spiders among others. They also have been reported to eat berries and seeds.

Are they poisonous?

These birds are not known to be poisonous at all.

Would they make a good pet?

These small and cute birds would make excellent pets for those who are interested in keeping birds as pets. Thorough and intensive care of these birds is required though as they usually are only comfortable in their habitat and thrive there only.

Did you know...

There is a joke about this bird which is based on the fact that the name of the bird is longer than the bird itself.

The northern beardless Tyrannulet is the only representative of the family Elaeniinae in the United States, which is a large subfamily of South American tyrannid flycatchers.

A group of the northern beardless Tyrannulet is collectively known as a 'shaving' of Tyrannulets.

This bird was once considered as conspecific with the southern beardless Tyrannulet but this was later discarded.

Only 5% of this bird's population is found in the United States.

Are they loud?

Yes, they are audibly loud and can be distinctly heard. Their 'tee-tee-tee-tee-tee' and 'dee-dee-dee' call is very common.

Are they predators?

Although it eats insects, a northern beardless Tyrannulet is not a vicious predator.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our parrot facts and hummingbird facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable northern beardless tyrannulet coloring pages.