Cock-tailed Tyrant vs Duck Hawk

Alectrurus tricolor compared with Falco peregrinus

Key Differences

• Cock-tailed Tyrant is Vulnerable while Duck Hawk is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cock-tailed Tyrant	Duck Hawk
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Passeriformes (Songbirds)	Falconiformes (Falconiformes)
Family	Tyrannidae	Falconidae
Genus	Alectrurus	Falco
Species	Alectrurus tricolor	Falco peregrinus

Evolutionary Relationship

Cock-tailed Tyrant and Duck Hawk share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Cock-tailed Tyrant

VU — Vulnerable

Duck Hawk

LC — Least Concern

Population: ~140.0K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cock-tailed Tyrant	Duck Hawk
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	48 cm
Average Weight	—	1.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cock-tailed Tyrant

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Found in Norway. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Duck Hawk

Habitat

Typically found in diverse ecosystems where prey species are available.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (7 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

Cock-tailed Tyrant

The cock-tailed tyrant (Alectrurus tricolor) is a striking and unusual flycatcher in the family Tyrannidae, named for the remarkable elongated, spatula-shaped outer tail feathers of the male, which can exceed the body length and are displayed during aerial courtship flights over open grasslands. The species inhabits wet and seasonally flooded grasslands, cerrado savanna, and campos in the interior of South America, including central Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina — not Norway, as erroneous database entries suggest. Males combine conspicuous black, white, and rufous plumage with their extraordinary tail streamers in an elaborate display to attract females on leks; females are cryptically streaked brown. The cock-tailed tyrant is a ground- and low-vegetation forager, preying on insects and other small invertebrates gleaned from grass stems and caught in aerial sallies. The species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to extensive and continuing conversion and degradation of its native Neotropical grassland habitat through intensive soy and sugarcane agriculture, cattle ranching, fire management changes, and drainage of seasonally flooded grasslands. Populations have declined significantly across much of its range, particularly in Brazil and Paraguay. The species is a flagship for threatened grassland conservation in South America, where relatively little protection has historically been directed at open-country habitats compared to forest ecosystems.

Duck Hawk

The fastest animal on the planet, peregrine falcons achieve aerial dive speeds exceeding 320 km/h when stooping on prey, stunning or killing birds in flight with a blow from their feet. Found on every continent except Antarctica in diverse habitats from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforest. Nearly extinct in North America and Europe from DDT poisoning in the 1960s–70s, peregrines recovered dramatically following pesticide bans and successful urban nesting programs.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway