Colombia: Bogotá area passerine (1 Viewer)

¡Hola, todos!

We were in Colombia the week before last. On Feb. 22, at the very end of our trip, we took a short taxi tour outside of Bogotá to the little town of La Calera. While there, we walked along a little creek that ran right through the middle of town, where we found a bird that has left us quite stumped.

Now, before anyone asks - yes, the attached is the only photo I got before it slipped away. Photo "a" is the original, cropped and resized, but not otherwise modified; the "b" photo, I have lightened a bit in PS.

However, before I took the photo, we got some good notes. It may be worth keeping in mind, however, that the bird was in shade for the entire duration of the observation, which could well have skewed our perception of its colours.

The following are our "raw" notes:

warbler [?]
short bill
dark cap
warbler, vireo face
yellow or buffy undertail
buffy wing-bars
pale breast
white chin
mostly straight tail
olive-green back
dark tail, lighter rump

Click to expand...

What I did not record, in these notes, was just how striking the cap contrast was with the face - it was the first thing I noticed about the bird. In North American terms, I would say it was a striking as that of a Gray Catbird's cap and face. Another thing we didn't record in writing was that we saw it foraging with a pair of Blackburnian Warblers, which gave us some indication as to size; just slightly smaller than they were.

The bit about "mostly straight tail," by the way, was meant to refer to the shape of the tip of the tail - i.e. not significantly forked or rounded.

I am hoping that somebody with a knowledge of what is likely to be around La Calera in this sort of bird will chip in (as it were).

Tanks,

PC.

I have no knowledge of Colombia: something in this bird makes me want to say Tyrannulet. There is a Black-capped Tyrannulet that at least superficially would fit? (or maybe it is too yellow on the underside, at least in one subspecies).

It looks like a Bran-coloured Flycatcher

njlarsen said:

I have no knowledge of Colombia: something in this bird makes me want to say Tyrannulet. There is a Black-capped Tyrannulet that at least superficially would fit? (or maybe it is too yellow on the underside, at least in one subspecies).

Click to expand...

We were thinking in that direction, too.
Being very small, and quite active, I thought it must be one in that group, probably Zimmerius something, but none had exactly the right plumage combination. Black-capped comes closest, but in any depiction I have looked at, always shows bright yellow underneath - which this bird most distinctly did not.

Robert_Scanlon said:

It looks like a Bran-coloured Flycatcher

Click to expand...

Does that species ever show a contrasting dark cap? (I've never seen one.) Must admit that the rest of the plumage is pretty close...