Common Tody-Flycatcher - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Robert_Scanlon
P Isla Salamanca, Colombia, May 2004

Todirostrum cinereum

Identification

9.5-10.2 cm

Dark olive-green upperparts
Yellow underparts
Black head
Dark grey nape
Black wings
2 yellow wing bars
Black tail; white tipped; long
Pale iris
Straight black bill

Sexes similar
Juvenile: greyer upper head, buff wing markings, paler underparts
On some birds, the white in the eye is more brownish-yellow and quite inconspicuous.

Yellow-eyed individual
Photo by Oderson
Itumbiara Brazil, June 2009

Similar Species

Some individuals will show yellow lores and care must be taken to distinguish from Yellow-lored Tody Flycatcher. A distinct fieldmark for this species is white tips to outer rectrices.^[4]

Distribution

Found from Mexico through Central America to northern half of South America, northwestern Peru, eastern Bolivia and southern Brazil.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are eight subspecies^[1]:

T. c. virididorsale:

Tropical southern Mexico (Veracruz and n Oaxaca)

T. c. finitimum:

Tropical southern Mexico (Tabasco and Chiapas) to north-western Costa Rica

T. c. wetmorei:

Tropical central and eastern Costa Rica and Panama

T. c. sclateri:

South-western Colombia (Nariño) to western Ecuador and north-western Peru

T. c. cinereum:

Tropical southern Colombia to southern Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil

T. c. peruanum:

Eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru (south to Cuzco)

T. c. coloreum:

South-eastern Brazil (Espírito Santo) to northern Paraguay and northern Bolivia

T. c. cearae:

North-eastern Brazil (eastern Pará to Piauí, Ceará, Alagoas and northern Bahia)

Habitat

Forests, plantations, shrubby areas and gardens.

Behaviour

Both sexes build the pouch shaped nest. The 2 white eggs are incubated by the female for 15-16 days.

References

Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
Wikipedia
Arthur Grosset
Thread discussing differences between Common and Yellow-lored Tody-Flycatchers

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Common Tody-Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Tody-Flycatcher

External Links

Search for photos of Common Tody-Flycatcher in the gallery

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.