Unknown ID on Ecuadorian Tyrannulets of Foothillforest (1 Viewer)

[Daan van der hoeven]

Hi all,

Maybe you guys can help me ID these Ecuadorian Bristle tyrants.
The first picture was taken on the west slope (around 1300 m), I'm thinking Marble-faced given the whitish wingbars.
But the next two pictures are from the east slope (same elevation) and the bird has real buffy/cinnamon wingbars so I am thinking Variegated.
For the last picture I am thinking of Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, but not quite sure.

Thanks in advance!

Daan van der Hoeven

 

[THE_FERN]

Well here goes nothing...

I think the first 3 are slaty-capped flycatcher. The wing spots look amber/orange coloured on my monitor, and I think bill shape [long, pointy] is better for that species. Variegated bristle-tyrant would have fuller orange wing bars, and marble-faced should (usually) have clear yellow bars not appearing as spots. The last I think is plumbeous-crowned tyrannulet but I'm not certain. This because I see a dark ear patch with a pale arc outside this, little to no white supercilium and I think crown colour is better for this species.

 

[Daan van der hoeven]

Well here goes nothing...

I think the first 3 are slaty-capped flycatcher. The wing spots look amber/orange coloured on my monitor, and I think bill shape [long, pointy] is better for that species. Variegated bristle-tyrant would have fuller orange wing bars, and marble-faced should (usually) have clear yellow bars not appearing as spots. The last I think is plumbeous-crowned tyrannulet but I'm not certain. This because I see a dark ear patch with a pale arc outside this, little to no white supercilium and I think crown colour is better for this species.

Well Thanks!
I agree on the first three pictures being Slaty-capped, the difference in wingbar colour is probably a difference in subspecies.
However I am not quite sure on the last bird too, for comparison I added two pictures of plumbeous crowned where you can see a clear difference in headpattern while with the first one it does quite match. I already excluded Marble-faced (lack of marbling in face), Ecuadorian Tyrannulet and ashy headed.

Thanks for your opinion,

Daan van der hoeven

 

[THE_FERN]

Well Thanks!
I agree on the first three pictures being Slaty-capped, the difference in wingbar colour is probably a difference in subspecies.
However I am not quite sure on the last bird too, for comparison I added two pictures of plumbeous crowned where you can see a clear difference in headpattern while with the first one it does quite match. I already excluded Marble-faced (lack of marbling in face), Ecuadorian Tyrannulet and ashy headed.

Thanks for your opinion,

Daan van der hoeven

Suggest "plumbeous crowned one" is actually Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant. We can see the big whitish supercilium. It forms part of a whitish face mask which includes a well demarcated dark auricular patch. The grey we can see on the crown is paler paler than what we'd expect for plumbeous-crowned. Although the lower mandible of this species is often pale, the bill can be all dark as here.

I think "plumbeous crowned two" is actually yellow-olive flycatcher. You can see the lower mandible is pale coloured whereas it would be all dark if it were plumbeous-crowned. I think the bill shape is wrong for the tyrannulet (Note also the greyish throat etc).

 

[Thibaud]

I agree with THE_FERN on all.
The only one that's bugging me is "plumbeous-crowned one". It's the reference image for the species in ebird, and I'd expect Andrew Spencer to know his stuff, but I agree it doesn't have a Phyllomyias look to it. In fact, the ebird photos for that one seem to represent three or four species!
Daan, I think you now have the best photo of that species on eBird!

I know Àlex, who took the other one, (which does look like a Tolmomyias), I'll drop him a note.

 

[THE_FERN]

I agree with THE_FERN on all.
The only one that's bugging me is "plumbeous-crowned one". It's the reference image for the species in ebird, and I'd expect Andrew Spencer to know his stuff, but I agree it doesn't have a Phyllomyias look to it. In fact, the ebird photos for that one seem to represent three or four species!
Daan, I think you now have the best photo of that species on eBird!

I know Àlex, who took the other one, (which does look like a Tolmomyias), I'll drop him a note.

Well I'm reassured by that Thibaud. By now you've probably more field experience of these things even than Josh... [lucky so-and-so]

 

[Thibaud]

Well I'm reassured by that Thibaud. By now you've probably more field experience of these things even than Josh... [lucky so-and-so]

Hah I wish!

Meanwhile, Àlex has sent me a couple more photos of his bird (see attached).

Looks good for Yellow-Olive, no? Would be the peruvianus subsp, I believe.

 

[THE_FERN]

Hah I wish!

Meanwhile, Àlex has sent me a couple more photos of his bird (see attached).

Looks good for Yellow-Olive, no? Would be the peruvianus subsp, I believe.

Yes most likely. Depending on where these are from, probably peruvianus (SE) or confusus (NE). Hopefully altitude rules out similar things like Yellow-margined fly, but if not we'd need a decent shot of the wings.

(There seems to be consensus that "yellow-olive fly" is actually multiple species. Certainly plumage variations suggests this.)

 

[Thibaud]

Yes most likely. Depending on where these are from, probably peruvianus (SE) or confusus (NE). Hopefully altitude rules out similar things like Yellow-margined fly, but if not we'd need a decent shot of the wings.

(There seems to be consensus that "yellow-olive fly" is actually multiple species. Certainly plumage variations suggests this.)

This was in the north, in the Alto Mayo. I know the spot (the famous "llanteria"), and while it very much has a premontane feel, it's only around 1400 msnm, so still a bit low to be completely sure. Looking et ebird barcharts, there are a bunch of Yellow-olive sightings, vs only a couple of Yellow-margined records.

Meanwhile I definitely agree about Yellow-olive needing to be split. The first ones I ever saw were in Mexico, and they look nothing like the birds I saw last year.

 

[THE_FERN]

This was in the north, in the Alto Mayo. I know the spot (the famous "llanteria"), and while it very much has a premontane feel, it's only around 1400 msnm, so still a bit low to be completely sure. Looking et ebird barcharts, there are a bunch of Yellow-olive sightings, vs only a couple of Yellow-margined records.

Meanwhile I definitely agree about Yellow-olive needing to be split. The first ones I ever saw were in Mexico, and they look nothing like the birds I saw last year.

Sorry: I'm not clear which of your photos is which. If the latest are the same as "plumbeous-crowned two" then we can be sure it's not yellow-margined.

 

[Thibaud]

Sorry: I'm not clear which of your photos is which. If the latest are the same as "plumbeous-crowned two" then we can be sure it's not yellow-margined.

Yes, exactly, they're two more photos of the same bird, ie "plumbeous-crowned two".
Àlex thanks you for the correction (while being gutted at having lost a lifer hehe), he'll fix the ID.

 

[Daan van der hoeven]

Glad to see this analysis develop on!!!

This was in the north, in the Alto Mayo. I know the spot (the famous "llanteria"), and while it very much has a premontane feel, it's only around 1400 msnm, so still a bit low to be completely sure. Looking et ebird barcharts, there are a bunch of Yellow-olive sightings, vs only a couple of Yellow-margined records.

Meanwhile I definitely agree about Yellow-olive needing to be split. The first ones I ever saw were in Mexico, and they look nothing like the birds I saw last year.

I definitely saw the bird in a pre montene feel, scenes as white winged tanager and white-plumed antbird on the same site were not unusual .
The bird in question also has a kind of streaked under site, I never really took a close eye to flycatchers on trips so i am sorry for the leek phrasing. but it really stands out in comparison to the second picture seen here:

Hah I wish!

Meanwhile, Àlex has sent me a couple more photos of his bird (see attached).

Looks good for Yellow-Olive, no? Would be the peruvianus subsp, I believe.

cheers,

Daan