White-crested Tyrannulet - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Lcverissimo
Londrina, Paraná, Brazil, August 2012

Includes White-bellied Tyrannulet (= Grey-crowned Tyrannulet)

Serpophaga subcristata

Identification

11 cm (4¼ in) - two forms, first is listed the yellow-bellied form:

• Grey crown and nape
• White supercilium
• White broken eyering
• Dusky eyeline
• Greyish-olive upperparts
• White crest and throat
• Greyish breast
• Yellow belly
• Dark wings with two buffy wingbars.

White-bellied form:

White-bellied form (subspecies munda)
Photo © by Xyko Paludo
Mostardas, RS, Brazil, 27 July 2019

• Greyish upperparts
• Whitish underparts
• White coronal stripe, more visible when agitated

Distribution

South America: found in Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized^[1].

• S. s. straminea:
  • South-eastern Brazil (southern Piauí and Bahia) to Uruguay
• S. s. subcristata:
  • Eastern Bolivia to south-western Brazil (Mato Grosso), Paraguay and central Argentina
• S. s. munda:
  • Western Bolivia to western Paraguay, extreme southwest Brazil and western Argentina

The last subspecies was formerly considered a full species with the name of White-bellied Tyrannulet.

Habitat

Shrubby steppes, open woodland, tree groves and gardens, but avoids insides of more closed forest.

Behaviour

Partly migratory in that it leaves the higher elevation areas of the south, going mostly east but also north from there. This is mainly the white-bellied form (munda).

Diet

Their diet consists almost entirely of insects.

Vocalisation

One frequently heard vocalization starts with some whistled notes followed by a trill.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Pearman, M., J.I. Areta 2021. Birds of Argentina and the South-west Atlantic. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford. ISBN: 978-0-691-14769-7
3. Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2022). White-crested Tyrannulet (Serpophaga subcristata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.y01036.01
4. Arthur Grosset

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) White-crested Tyrannulet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-crested_Tyrannulet

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