Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant

The brown-backed chat-tyrant is 14.5 to 16 cm (5.7 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 16 to 19 g (0.56 to 0.67 oz). The sexes have much the same plumage though females have somewhat paler and duller underparts than males. Adults of the nominate subspecies O. f. fumicolor have a warm brown crown and wide whitish supercilium that begins at the lores and becomes somewhat ochraceous past the eye. The rest of their face is grayish. Their upperparts are rufescent brown that becomes a rufous brown on the rump. Their wings are dusky or blackish with two prominent rufous wing bars. Their tail is dusky to blackish with white outer webs of the outermost feathers. Their throat is grayish and the rest of their underparts mostly cinnamon-rufous with buff undertail coverts. The other subspecies of the brown-backed chat-tyrant differ from the nominate and each other thus:

O. f. ferruginea: shorter, buffy supercilium and more white on the tail feathers than nominate O. f. brunneifrons: longer, entirely buff, supercilium and wider rufous wingbars than nominate O. f. berlepschi: shorter, thinner, and dirty whitish supercilium than nominate; some have a browner crown All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a smallish black bill, and black legs and feet.

The brown-backed chat-tyrant has a disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:

O. f. ferruginea: Colombia's Central and Western Andes north of Caldas and Cauca departments O. f. fumicolor: Andes from southern Táchira in southwestern Venezuela south in Colombia's Eastern Andes to Cundinamarca Department O. f. brunneifrons: Andes from Caldas and Cauca in Colombia's Central and Western ranges south on both slopes through Ecuador into Peru, on the western slope to Cajamarca Department and on the eastern slope to Junín Department O. f. berlepschi: from Cuzco and Puno departments in southeastern Peru into central Bolivia's La Paz and Cochabamba departments The brown-backed chat-tyrant primarily inhabits stunted montane forest up to tree line, Polylepis woodlands, and shrubby paramo. It also occurs in pastures with shrubby borders. In elevation it ranges between 2,200 and 4,200 m (7,200 and 13,800 ft) with most records above 2,700 m (8,900 ft) in Venezuela, between 2,500 and 3,600 m (8,200 and 11,800 ft) in Colombia, between 2,800 and 4,200 m (9,200 and 13,800 ft) in Ecuador, and between 2,500 and 4,100 m (8,200 and 13,500 ft) in Peru. There are scattered records as low as 1,800 m (5,900 ft) and as high as 4,500 m (14,800 ft).

The brown-backed chat-tyrant feeds on insects, though details are lacking. It usually forages singly or in pairs and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It perches upright, in wooded areas on branches near the trunk and in open areas on stumps, fence posts, shrubs, and clumps of grass. It seldom perches more than 2 m (7 ft) above the ground. It captures most prey in mid-air or near the ground ("hawking") but sometimes takes it from leaves or the ground while briefly hovering.