Green-backed Becard - BirdForum Opus

Male of subspecies viridis
Photo by Luiz
Serrinha do Alambari, Resende, RJ, Brazil, November 2009

Pachyramphus viridis

Includes Yellow-cheeked Becard

Identification

14 - 15cm.

• Male with a black crown, female with green crown
• Olive-green wings, females with rufous-chestnut lesser wing-coverts
• Viridis: Male with grey-whitish face and throat, grey neck and nuchal collar, yellow pectoral band merging with whitish underparts

Female of subspecies viridis
Photo by JWN Andrewes
Brazil, September 2005

• Griseigularis: Underparts greyish, without yellow pectoral band
• Peruanus and xanthogenys: yellow face, olive nuchal collar and neck, olive pectoral band merging with whitish underparts.

Distribution

South America: found in south-eastern Venezuela and Guyana, locally in northern Brazil and from north-eastern Brazil south to Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and Uruguay. Also in Peru, Ecuador and southern Colombia.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Four species which form two groups^[1]:

• P. v. griseigularis in Venezuela, N Brazil and Guyana.
• P. v. viridis from Ne Brazil south to Uruguay and N Argentina.

• P. v. peruanus in Peru.
• P. v. xanthogenys in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

Peruanus and xanthogenys are sometimes split as Yellow-cheeked Becard, Pachyramphus xanthogenys.

Habitat

Different types of forest (moist lowland forest, gallery forest, foothill forest) and forest edge. Also found in clearings.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on insects.
Usually seen in pairs or single. Forages in varying heights in the trees, well above the ground. Viridis and greiseigularis are often in mixed-species flocks.

Breeding

The bulky globular nest is made of dead leaves and usually hangs from from a drooping branch or is wedged in a tree fork. It has a entrance hole near the bottom on the side. Lays two to four eggs.

Movements

Resident species.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2004. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334696

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Green-backed Becard. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Green-backed_Becard

External Links

Search for photos of Green-backed Becard in the gallery