Barred Becard - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Stanley Jones
Chiriqui Province, Panama, May 2012

Pachyramphus versicolor

Identification

Photo by Michael W
Old Nono-Mindo Road, North-western Ecuador, March 2007

11·5–13 cm (4½-5 in)
Male

• Black upperparts
• White wing patches
• Yellow-green sides of head and throat
• White underparts barred with black
• White eye ring
  

Female

• Grey crown and nape
• Olive-green upperparts
• Rufous wings
• Greenish-yellow underparts finely barred with black.

Young males are much duller and greener than the adults, with weaker barring.

Variation

The population in western Panama and Costa Rica has most birds more yellowish-greenish especially on upperside. The rest may differ by subspecies in how strong the barring is on the underside.

Distribution

Photo by Pitter
Valle de Cauca, Colombia

Central and South America:
Central America: Costa Rica, Panama
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• P. v. costaricensis:

• Humid montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama (Chiriquí)

• P. v. meridionalis:

• Eastern slope of Andes of southern Ecuador to eastern Peru and western Bolivia

• P. v. versicolor:

• Eastern and Central Andes of Colombia to western Venezuela and Ecuador

Habitat

Canopy and middle levels of mountain forests.

Behaviour

Female, subspecies costaricensis
Photo by njlarsen
Los Quetzales cabin, Guadeloupe, Chiriqui, Panama, February 2018

Diet

The diet consists of large insects, spiders and berries. They feed singly, in pairs and, after breeding, in small family groups.

Breeding

The female builds a spherical nest from plant material, with a low entrance and incubates the 2 dark brown-blotched brownish white eggs for 18-20 days. The male helps to feed the young.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved September 2016 and February 2018)
4. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Barred Becard. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Barred_Becard

External Links

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