Bird on a Groundhog?

Cattle tyrant bird on a capybara (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

30 June 2023

You’ll never see this bird and mammal wandering in North America.

The bird is the cattle tyrant (Machetornis rixosa) of South America, related to the great kiskadee whose northern range extends into south Texas.

The mammal is the world’s largest rodent, a capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), also in South America.

Capybaras are semi-aquatic (“hydro” in their genus name) and very social, living in groups of up to 100 individuals. See both characteristics in this video.

Capybara’s are so large that a raptor can look small when perched on one of them as shown in this vintage article.

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