Masked Yellowthroat - BirdForum Opus

Male, subspecies aequinoctialis.
Photo © by Celso Paris
SE Brazil, 2015

Geothlypis aequinoctialis

Includes: Black-lored Yellowthroat; Southern Yellowthroat

Identification

Female, subspecies aequinoctialis.
Photo © by Dave B Smith
Rahamut Tr., Trinidad, July 2010

13–14 cm (5-5½ in)

• Yellowish-green upperparts
• Bright yellow underparts,
• Black bill
  

Male: black face mask, bordered above with a grey band
Female: lacks the black mask, duller, grey sides to face, yellowish eyering and yellowish stripe from the bill to the eye.

Distribution

South America including from Colombia and Trinidad to northern Argentina^[1][2]. There are large gaps in the ranges between the forms mentioned as candidates for full species status below.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Black-lored Yellowthroat, subspecies peruviana
Photo © by Oregonian
Valley of the Rio Marañón, near San Marcos, Peru, 22 October 2019

Four subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• G. a. aequinoctialis
  • North East Colombia to Venezuela, The Guianas, Suriname, northern Brazil (along coast and along main Amazon river); Trinidad
• G. a. auricularis
  • Pacific slope of western Ecuador to western Peru (south to Ica)
• G. a. peruviana
  • N Peru (upper Marañon Valley of Cajamarca and La Libertad)
• G. a. velata
  • South East Peru to Bolivia, Brazil (south of the Amazon basin), Paraguay, Uruguay, and north-eastern Argentina

The subspecies G. s. chiriquensis (Chiriqui Yellowthroat) was recently transferred to Olive-crowned Yellowthroat

Several of these have been proposed as full species by one or more authorities:
G. auricularis including peruviana as Black-lored Yellowthroat
G. velata as Southern Yellowthroat.
G. aequinoctialis would thereafter be the remaining Masked Yellowthroat

Habitat

Marshes and other wet areas with dense low vegetation.

Behaviour

Photo © by rka
Sumaria Trace, Trinidad, August 2017

Breeding

Their 2 white eggs have reddish-brown markings. They build a lined cup nest low in grass or rank vegetation.

Diet

Their diet consists of insects, and invertebrates, including caterpillars.

Vocalisation

Recording by Andrew Whitehouse

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
3. BirdForum thread discussing Yellowthroat phylogeny
4. Ridgely and Tudor 2009. Field guide to the songbirds of South America - The Passerines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8
5. Wikipedia
6. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Sept 2017)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Masked Yellowthroat. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 August 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Masked_Yellowthroat

External Links

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