Great Shrike-Tyrant

The great shrike-tyrant is the largest species of tyrant flycatcher, weighing an average of about 99 g (3.5 oz). It is 26 to 28 cm (10 to 11 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly grayish brown head with some whitish on the lores and a cinnamon tinge on the ear coverts. Their upperparts are grayish brown. Their wings are mostly a duskier grayish brown with pale brown edges on the flight feathers. Their tail is mostly black with buffy white tips and edges of the outer webs of the outer feathers. Their throat is white with heavy black streaks. Their underparts are a paler grayish brown than their upperparts, with a cinnamon or cinnamon-buff wash on the lower belly and crissum. Subspecies A. l. fortis is larger and slightly brighter than the nominate. Juveniles are browner than adults, with indistinct streaks on the head, back, and upper breast, less streaking on the throat than adults, and a wholly cinnamon-buff belly. Adults of both subspecies have a dark iris, a heavy hooked bill with a black maxilla and a dark-tipped orange mandible, and blackish legs and feet.

The nominate subspecies of the great shrike-tyrant is found along the coast and mountains of Chile from the Atacama Region to Valdivia in the Los Ríos Region. Subspecies A. l. fortis is found in far southern Chile's Aysén and Magallanes regions and in southern Argentina from southern Neuquén Province south into Tierra del Fuego. The species inhabits semi-arid to somewhat moister landscapes including scrublands with cacti and bromeliads, somewhat open shrubby areas and agricultural regions, pastures with nearby shrubby areas, and open Nothofagus woodlands. It shuns heavily woodlands and populated areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) though it mostly occurs below 1,500 m (4,900 ft).

The great shrike-tyrant feeds on insects; small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians; and bird eggs and nestlings. It mostly forages in pairs, though the members are typically not close together. It perches on a rock, shrub, or fence and typically captures prey by dropping on it from the perch and in mid-air by "hawking".