Common tody-flycatcher | |
---|---|
In Costa Rica | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Tyrannidae |
Genus: | Todirostrum |
Species: | T. cinereum |
Binomial name | |
Todirostrum cinereum (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
The common tody-flycatcher or black-fronted tody-flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) is a very small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southern Mexico to northwestern Peru, eastern Bolivia and southern, eastern and northeast Brazil.
The common tody-flycatcher was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Todus cinereus. [2] Linnaeus based his description on the "Grey and Yellow Fly-catcher" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by George Edwards from a specimen collected in Suriname. [3] The specific epithet cinereum is from Latin cinereus meaning "ash-grey". [4] The common tody-flycatcher is now the type species of the genus Todirostrum that was introduced by René Lesson in 1831. [5] [6] [7]
Eight subspecies are recognised: [7]
The common tody-flycatcher is a tiny, big-headed bird, 9.5–10.2 cm (3.7–4.0 in) long, weighing 6.5–6.8 g (0.23–0.24 oz), and with a long, flattened, straight black bill. The upper head is black, shading to dark grey on the nape and dark olive-green on the rest of the upperparts. The usually cocked tail is black with white tips, and the wings are blackish with two yellow wing bars and yellow edging to the feathers. The underparts are entirely yellow. Sexes are similar, but young birds have a greyer upper head, buff wing markings, and paler underparts.
Males of this species have a rapid grasshopper-like ticking te’e’e’e’e’e’t call something like a tropical kingbird, and a dawn song consisting of a very fast high tic repeated up to 110 times a minute for minutes on end.
It is a very common inhabitant in gardens, shady plantations, second growth and the edges and clearings of forest, although it avoids the dense interior of mature woodland and also arid areas. The common tody-flycatcher is usually seen in pairs, making rapid dashing sallies or hovering to pick small arthropods off the vegetation. [8] It often wags its tail as it moves sideways along branches.
It breeds from sea level to 1,150 m (3,770 ft) altitude, locally to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Both male and female birds build a pouch nest with a visored side entrance, which is usually suspended from a thin branch or vine 1–5 m (3.3–16.4 ft) high in a tree, though occasionally it can go up to 30 m (98 ft). The female incubates the two usually unspotted white eggs for the 15–16 days prior to hatching.
The blue-gray tanager is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru). On Trinidad and Tobago, this bird is called blue jean.
The yellow-bellied elaenia is a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula through Central and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.
The great kiskadee, called bem-te-vi in Brazil, pitogue in Paraguay, benteveo or bichofeo in Argentina, and luis bienteveo, pitabil, luis grande or chilera in Mexico, is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is the only member of the genus Pitangus.
The red-legged honeycreeper is a small songbird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba, where possibly introduced. It is also rarely found in southern Texas.
The blue dacnis or turquoise honeycreeper is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is found from Nicaragua to Panama, on Trinidad, and in South America south to Bolivia and northern Argentina. It is widespread and often common, especially in parts of its South American range.
The slaty-capped flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is found in northern Bolivia to Costa Rica and in Trinidad.
The red-capped cardinal is a small species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in South America.
The social flycatcher is a passerine bird from the Americas, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae).
The grey-capped flycatcher is a passerine bird, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family.
The tropical gnatcatcher is a small active insectivorous songbird, which is a resident species throughout a large part of northern South America. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the white-browed gnatcatcher.
The bright-rumped attila or polymorphic attila is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae). It breeds from northwestern Mexico to western Ecuador, Bolivia and southeastern Brazil, and on Trinidad.
The yellow-faced grassquit is a passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae and is the only member of the genus Tiaris. It is native to the Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
The oriole blackbird is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. Its genus, Gymnomystax, is monotypic. It is a medium-sized yellow and black bird found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and swamps.
The cliff flycatcher is a species of bird in the tyrant flycatcher family, Tyrannidae. The cliff flycatcher is the only species in the genus Hirundinea after the swallow flycatcher was merged, becoming subspecies Hirundinea ferruginea bellicosa. It is native to South America, where its natural habitats are cliffs and crags in the vicinity of subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, and heavily degraded former forest.
The rusty-margined flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.
The burnished-buff tanager, also known as the rufous-crowned tanager, is a common South American species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
The yellow-browed tody-flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found mainly in the southern Amazon Basin of Brazil, also Amazonian Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; the species is recorded in Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest.
The spotted tody-flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela, and is mostly a species of the Amazon Basin countries and Guianan countries.
The painted tody-flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in the Guianas of French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname; also eastern-southeastern Venezuela and the northeastern states of Brazil of the Amazon Basin.
The tody-flycatchers are several species of birds in the family Tyrannidae: