- Mecocerculus leucophrys
Identification
Generally, wing bars are whitish in adults in Venezuela and Bolivia and Argentina (and almost absent in worn plumage) but buffy in juveniles. In the rest of the range, the birds have rufous wing bars on darker wings and warmer brown back.
Distribution
Andes of northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and western-northern Venezuela; also in Tepuis in southern Venezuela and northern Brazil.
Taxonomy
Ten subspecies recognized[1]:
- M. l. montensis - northern Colombia (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta)
- M. l. setophagoides - eastern Andes of Colombia and north-western Venezuela
- M. l. nigriceps - mountains of northern Venezuela
- M. l. notatus - western and central Andes of Colombia (south to Cauca)
- M. l. roraimae - Subtropical central Venezuela (Amazonas and Bolívar)
- M. l. chapmani - Tepuis of southern Venezuela
- M. l. parui - Tepuis of southern Venezuela (Cerro Parú in Amazonas)
- M. l. rufomarginatus - southern Colombia (Nariño) to western Ecuador and north-western Peru (Piura)
- M. l. pallidior - Andes of west central Peru (Ancash, northern Lima)
- M. l. brunneomarginatus - east slope of the Andes of Peru (central Amazonas south to Cuzco)
- M. l. leucophrys - temperate Andes of south-eastern Peru to Bolivia and north-western Argentina
Habitat
Humid areas in mountains: forest edges, hedges, and bushes in grassland, also above the treeline.
Behaviour
High in trees, often with mixed species flocks. Often quite vocal
References
- 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/
- Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
- Ridgely and Tudor 2009. Field guide to the songbirds of South America - The Passerines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8
