White-browed Ground-Tyrant

The white-browed ground tyrant is 15 to 17.5 cm (5.9 to 6.9 in) long and weighs about 25 to 29 g (0.88 to 1.0 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a tawny forecrown, a rufous hindcrown, and a long thin white supercilium. Their upperparts are brownish gray. Their wings are dusky gray. Their tail is black with whitish edges on the outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat, breast, and belly are pale gray and their crissum whitish. They have a dark brown iris, a long dusky bill, and dusky legs and feet. Juveniles have a brown crown, dull rufous edges on the wing coverts, and light streaking on the breast and belly.

The white-browed ground tyrant is found along the Andes from northern Ecuador south through Peru, western and southern Bolivia, and the length of eastern Chile and western Argentina to Chile's Magallanes Region. There are also a moderate number of records from both Chilean and Argentinian Tierra del Fuego. In addition it has been documented as a vagrant on Gorgona island off the Colombian coast and in Uruguay and the Falkland Islands. In its breeding range in Chile and Argentina it inhabits open montane grasslands and shrublands both natural and used by humans as pasture. They are often rocky and the species sometimes favors areas near marshes and lakes within them. In elevation there it ranges in elevation from near sea level in the far south to typically 1,400 to 4,000 m (4,600 to 13,100 ft) further north. In the non-breeding season it also inhabits open grasslands with much favor shown to areas near marshes and lakes. In Peru it ranges in elevation between 2,900 and 4,200 m (9,500 and 13,800 ft). In Ecuador it is found in páramo as well as grasslands. There it ranges in elevation mostly between 2,400 and 3,700 m (7,900 and 12,100 ft).

The white-browed ground tyrant feeds on insects, though details are lacking. It is almost wholly terrestrial but will perch on rocks. It runs and hops along the ground, stopping to stand erect before grabbing prey, or drops on it from a rock. In the breeding season it mostly forages by itself or in pairs but is sometimes in flocks outside that season.