Collared Gnatwren - BirdForum Opus

Microbates collaris

Identification

11 cm with long bill and short upturned tail.
Upperside brown, underside mostly white except for buffy vent and black half collar on upper breast. Head has a dark mask with white both above and below, and a dark malar.
Juvenile lacks markings in sides of head and breast-band.

Variation

Subspecies on average differ in color of upperside (some warmer and some colder colored) and in width of facial and breast markings.

Distribution

Amazonian South America: found north of the river Amazon in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• M. c. collaris:

• South-eastern Colombia to the Guianas, Suriname and adjacent north-western Brazil

• M. c. paraguensis:

• Southern Venezuela (Bolívar and Amazonas)

• M. c. perlatus:

• Northern Amazonian Brazil and north-eastern Peru (Loreto and northern San Martín)

Two additional subspecies torquatus and colombianus are not generally recognised^[3].

Habitat

Lowland moist primary forests, often near water but rarely at forest edge. Usually below 500 m asl.

Behaviour

Feeds by actively moving around close to ground where insects and other invertebrates make up the food sources. Frequently in mixed feeding flocks and may attend army ants.

Most frequent vocalization is a harsh scolding sound similar to other Gnatwrens.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Restall, R., C. Rodner, M. Lentino. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
3. Lepage D. (2020). Avibase, the World Database: https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/avibase.jsp
4. Atwood, J. L. and S. Lerman (2020). Collared Gnatwren (Microbates collaris), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.colgna1.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Collared Gnatwren. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Collared_Gnatwren

External Links

Search for photos of Collared Gnatwren in the gallery