Over the months we’ve featured many birds who are nasty killers. Hawks that start bushfires, Seagulls that attack whales, Eagles that steal children, even Terror Birds.
But there is perhaps no more tyrannical bird than the Many-colored Rush Tyrant (Tachuris rubrigastra)
‘Look upon mine many colours and tremble,’ sayeth the Tyrant.
It is a bird that rules the rushes with an iron wing. When a Tyrant invades all other creatures flee before it. Insects would rather splat on a windscreen than be subjected to the Tyrant’s will. Lizards burrow into the muddy earth and hibernate for years on end. All other birds scatter to the wind, migrating in hope of finding greener pastures free from subjugation. Frogs just tend to ignore them, they’re cool like that.
From merely looking at their fearsome form you can tell this is a bird that means business. Look at that determined eyebrow, so arched, so evil.
In actuality, the reason this bird is called a Tyrant is because it belongs to the Family Tyrannidae, the single largest Family of birds within the huge Order Passeriformes (about half of all birds are Passeriformes). But then again, why this family of wee tiny little Flycatchers are collectively known as Tyrannidae, I have no idea. I guess the answer is, ‘language just be weird, yo’.
But always remember, there is a super cute, tiny bird called a Tyrant. And it probably hates you.
25/08/2019
Bird of the Week 
3 thoughts on “Bird 91 – Many-colored Rush Tyrant”