| Brown-headed greenlet | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Vireonidae |
| Genus: | Hylophilus |
| Species: | H. brunneiceps |
| Binomial name | |
| Hylophilus brunneiceps PL Sclater, 1866 | |
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The brown-headed greenlet (Hylophilus brunneiceps) is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. [2] It is found in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. [3]
The brown-headed greenlet is monotypic. [2] However, what is now the inornata subspecies of the dusky-capped greenlet (Pachysylvia hypoxantha) was previously treated as a subspecies of it. [4]
The brown-headed greenlet is about 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 8 to 11.5 g (0.28 to 0.41 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a brown or dull sepia crown with a slight yellowish wash. Their face is dull brownish. Their upperparts and tail are olive-green. Their wing's primaries and secondaries are dark grayish with thin greenish olive edges on their outer webs. Their throat and upper breast are dirty white with an olive-buff tinge. Their lower breast and belly are gray-white, their flanks yellowish, and their vent pale greenish yellow. They have a gray or whitish iris, a brown maxilla, a pinkish mandible, and pink legs and feet. [5]
The brown-head greenlet is found from eastern Colombia east across most of southern Venezuela's Amazonas state and southeast into Brazil to the Negro River near Manaus. It inhabits scrubby low-stature forest on sandy soils, woodlands in savanna, blackwater river areas, and the edges of várzea forest. [5] [6] [7] In elevation it reaches 400 m (1,300 ft) in Brazil and Colombia and at least 200 m (700 ft) in Venezuela. [6] [8] [7]
The brown-headed greenlet is apparently a sedentary year-round resident. [5]
The brown-headed greenlet's diet has not been detailed but is known to include caterpillars and adult insects. It forages in pairs and family groups and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It takes food while actively foraging among leaves, sometimes hanging upside-down to reach it, and also sometimes briefly hovers to capture it from the undersides of leaves. It typically forages between about 5 and 12 m (15 and 40 ft) above the ground. [5] [7]
Nothing is known about the brown-headed greenlet's breeding biology. [5]
The brown-headed greenlet's song is a "high, warbling weet-oh-weeréet". [6] When agitated it makes "a series of twitters, then 4–5 soft notes and a louder, descending series of notes, much repeated". [5]
The IUCN has assessed the brown-headed greenlet as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. [1] It is considered "frequent to uncommon" in Brazil and uncommon in Colombia and Venezuela. [6] [8] [7]
