Diet

• Primarily large insects, including caterpillars (even hairy species avoided by many birds), grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, beetles, ants, termites, and mantises.

• Also feeds on spiders, small lizards, tree frogs, bird eggs, nestlings, and occasionally fruits and berries.

• Forages actively through the canopy and mid-storey, hopping agilely among branches and searching foliage for prey.

Range

• Found from northeastern Mexico through Central America, the Caribbean, and much of South America to northern Argentina.

• In Mexico, it occurs along both the Pacific and Gulf slopes, including the Zihuatanejo region, where it is a common year-round resident.

• Inhabits tropical dry forests, tropical evergreen forests, forest edges, secondary woodland, gallery forests, mangroves, plantations, and shaded gardens, generally from sea level to about 2,000 m.

Male / Female

• Male: Rich chestnut upperparts, long chestnut tail with broad white tips on the outer feathers, grayish head, pale buff underparts, and bright red bare skin around the eye. Slightly larger than the female.

• Female: Nearly identical in plumage but generally slightly smaller and less robust.

• Sexes cannot be reliably distinguished in the field except by subtle size differences or breeding behaviour.

Size

• Length: 40–50 cm (16–20 in), much of which is the long tail.

• Wingspan: 45–52 cm (18–20.5 in)

• Weight: 95–150 g (3.4–5.3 oz)