Grey-collared becard

Last updated

Grey-collared becard
Grey-collared Becard, La Concordia, Mexico (16372461294).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tityridae
Genus: Pachyramphus
Species:
P. major
Binomial name
Pachyramphus major
Cabinis, 1847]]
Pachyramphus major map.svg
Synonyms

The grey-collared becard (Pachyramphus major) is a species of bird in the family Tityridae, the tityras, becards, and allies. It is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. [3] It has also occurred as a vagrant in Arizona and Texas. [4] [5]

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-collared becard was originally described in 1847 as Bathmidurus major. [6] It was eventually placed in its present genus Pachyramphus . That genus has variously been assigned to the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae and the cotinga family Cotingidae. Several early twenty-first century studies confirmed the placement of Pachyramphus in Tityridae and taxonomic systems made the reassignment. [7] In 1998 the American Ornithological Society was unsure where to place the genus and listed its members as incertae sedis but in 2011 moved them to Tityridae. [8]

The grey-collared becard's further taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC, the Clements taxonomy, AviList, and the North American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (NACC) assign it these five subspecies: [3] [9] [10] [11] [12]

However, as of late 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats P. m. uropygialis as a separate species, the "western grey-collared becard" and calls P. major the "eastern grey-collard becard". [13]

This article follows the IOC/Clements/AviList/NACC five-subspecies model.

Description

The grey-collared becard is 14 to 16.3 cm (5.5 to 6.4 in) long and weighs about 21 to 28 g (0.74 to 0.99 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. m. major have a glossy black crown. They have a pale stripe above the lores and an otherwise light gray face. The gray of their face wraps around their neck as a collar. Their back is black, sometimes with gray mottling, and their rump and uppertail coverts are gray. Their wings are mostly black with a white stripe on the scapulars and white edges on the coverts, secondaries, and tertials. Their tail is black with white tips on the outer feathers. Their throat and underparts are a uniform light gray. Adult females have a blackish brown to glossy blackish crown. They have a pale stripe above the lores on an otherwise pale cinnamon to tawny-buff face. The color of their face wraps around their neck as a collar. Their upperparts are cinnamon-brown. Their wings are mostly blackish with wide cinnamon to cinnamon-brown edges on the coverts, secondaries, and tertials. Their tail is mostly cinnamon-brown with wide cinnamon tips on the feathers. Their throat and underparts are buff to cinnamon-buff. [14]

The other subspecies of the grey-collared becard differ from the nominate and each other thus: [14]

All subspecies have a dark iris, a blackish bill with sometimes some grayish pink on the mandible, and dark gray legs and feet. [14]

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the grey-colored becard are found thus: [11] [14]

The population in Belize and northern Guatemala belongs to either P. m. itzensis or P. m. australis. [14]

The grey-collared becard inhabits several types of humid to semi-arid forest in the tropical and subtropical zones. These include evergreen, deciduous, and especially pine-oak types. [11] [14] In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). [15]

Behavior

Movement

The grey-collared becard appears to make elevational movements, at least in Mexico, where it breeds in higher elevations and winters lower. [11] [14]

Feeding

The grey-collared becard feeds on insects and fruits. It apparently forages mostly singly or in pairs and occasionally joins mixed species feeding flocks. [14] It forages mostly from the forest's mid-story to its canopy. [14] [16]

Breeding

The grey-collared becard's breeding season has not been defined but apparently spans at least May to August. Its one described nest was found in August. It was a globe with a side entrance, made of lichen, twigs, and pine needles with a "roof" of bark strips held with spider web. It was in a fork in an oak tree about 10 m (35 ft) above the ground. Both parents provisioned its nestlings. The clutch size, incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care are not known. [14]

Vocalization

The grey-collared becard's song is "a rich and constantly repeated (usually 4–6 times, and ten in c. 10 seconds) hoo wee-deet or hu whi-ditt whistle". [14] Its call is a "begging-like eeuup-eeuup-eeuup" and it occasionaly makes "squabbles and nasal agitated notes". [16]

Status

The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has separately assessed the "western" and "eastern" grey-collared becards. The population size of neither is known and both are believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats to either have been identified. [1] [2] The grey-collared becard is considered uncommon to fairly common overall. [14] In northern Central America it is rare to uncommon on the Caribbean slope and rare and local on the Pacific slope. [16] It occurs in a few protected areas. [16]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2021). "Eastern Grey-collared Becard Pachyramphus major". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021 e.T103677221A139916395. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T103677221A139916395.en . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  2. 1 2 BirdLife International (2021). "Western Grey-collared Becard Pachyramphus major". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021 e.T103677225A139916875. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T103677225A139916875.en . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Cotingas, manakins, tityras, becards". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  4. ↑ Johnston, J.; Pellegrini, A.; Davis, R. (2010). "First record of Gray-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major) for the United States". North American Birds. 64: 180–182.
  5. ↑ Jeff Bell (November 29, 2023). "Gray-collared becard spotted for the first time in Texas". KVUE. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  6. ↑ Cabanis, Jean (1847). "Ornithologische Notizen". Archiv für Naturgeschichte (in German). 1. Nicolai: 246–247. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  7. ↑ Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 29 September 2025
  8. ↑ R. Terry Chesser, Richard C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk 2011, vol. 128:600–613 retrieved 22 October 2025
  9. ↑ Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2025. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2025. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved 3 November 2025
  10. ↑ AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025 retrieved 11 June 2025
  11. 1 2 3 4 Check-list of North American Birds (7th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. p. 419.
  12. ↑ R. Terry Chesser, Shawn M. Billerman, Kevin J. Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Blanca E. Hernández-Baños, Rosa Alicia Jiménez, Andrew W. Kratter, Nicholas A. Mason, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and Kevin Winker. "Sixty-fourth supplement to the American Ornithological Society s Check-list of North American Birds". Ornithology 2023, vol. 140:1-11 retrieved July 6, 2023
  13. ↑ HBW and BirdLife International (2025). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 10. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/about-our-science/taxonomy#birdlife-s-taxonomic-checklist retrieved 12 October 2025
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 del Hoyo, J., J. A. Mobley, G. M. Kirwan, and N. Collar (2022). Gray-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grcbec1.01.1 retrieved November 10, 2025
  15. ↑ vanPerlo, Ber (2006). Birds of Mexico and Central America. Princeton Illustrated Checklists. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. Plate 69, map 69.3. ISBN   0691120706.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Fagan, Jesse; Komar, Oliver (2016). Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 282–283. ISBN   978-0-544-37326-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.