On the morning of November 12, 2023, local Corpus Christi birder David Essian spotted an unusual passerine on the downtown streets of Corpus Christi. Essian quickly realized the bird was a Cattle Tyrant, Machetornix rixosa, a species he was familiar with from Latin America. David was able to obtain some video of the bird, and noted that it was rather brown-backed with bright yellow undersides, including the throat. The back was a uniform dusky brown including the wings and tail. It was noted to be feeding near a dumpster along with Great-tailed Grackles and House Sparrows, and often flying up to perch on buildings and other structures.

The birding community was alerted to the bird, and soon dozens of local birders were able to relocate it, obtaining numerous photos. In following weeks and months, the Cattle Tyrant was faithful to the same area, and other areas of downtown Corpus Christi. It became much of a “national celebrity”, and was seen by literally hundreds of visiting birders.

The identity of the bird was never in question; as it was obviously a Cattle Tyrant. There are three subspecies of Cattle Tyrant, with two disjunct populations. The Corpus Christi bird was identified as one of the northern subspecies. M. r. flavigularis, or M.r. obscurodorsalis, by the yellow throat and brownish crown. The range of these subspecies is from northern Venezuela and eastern Colombia and extending into northeast Ecuador. There has been a slight northerly expansion in recent years, into Panama, and rarely: Costa Rica. The flavigularis and obscurodorsalis races of Cattle Tyrant are non-migratory, and have no known pattern of long-distance dispersal.

The feather condition of the Cattle Tyrant showed no obvious signs of excessive wear, when first observed. The plumage seemed to be in good condition. As to age, it was felt that the bird was undergoing its second pre-basic molt.  The bird was later observed to having some fishing line attached to its foot, and later observations revealed it had apparently lost two of its toes on that foot. This injury did not seem to have a negative effect on the bird’s health or feeding ability.

The Cattle Tyrant was loyal to a small area in downtown Corpus Christi, and was typically seen feeding around dumpsters close to local restaurants. Its feeding habits usually involved chasing flies and other insects on the ground or from low perches. This is typical Cattle Tyrant behavior in its native range, and it is known to habituate closely with human presence. The bird was seen most every day in downtown Corpus Christi until early May, 2024, when it disappeared. It then reappeared in the same location Dec. 4, 2024, and resumed its previous activities and feeding habits. The bird continues as of this writing in early February, 2025.

In May 2024, the Texas Bird Records Committee voted to Not Accept the Cattle Tyrant by a vote of 4-5. All committee members were confident of the identification, but were cautious in regard to the provenance of the bird, voting Origin Questionable. It has been the history of the TBRC to adopt a rather conservative approach to records involving birds which appear in Texas, long distances from their native range, but are basically non-migratory, with no previous pattern of long-distance vagrancy.  

There was some speculation that the Cattle Tyrant may have been ship-assisted, as the Port of Corpus Christi is nearby, with numerous vessels originating from South America. However, that was only one theory, and the TBRC certainly does not claim to know how the bird arrived in Texas.

In August 2024, the American Birding Association Checklist Committee (ABA-CLC) considered this record even though it was not accepted by the state committee given the importance and significant attention the bird received from all over the country.  The vote by the ABA-CLC was 2- 6 to Not Accept.  The committee also cited questionable origin due to the lack of any strong supporting data for how the bird arrived in the Corpus area since this species is not known to migrate or have much of a vagrant track record.

How each TBRC member votes is an individual matter and hence follows their own philosophy about natural occurrence questions.  If, in the future, other Cattle Tyrants are found in the US or nearby, this record could be reevaluated.

Mel Cooksey 

March 2025