- Dysithamnus mentalis
Identification
10–13 cm (4-5 in)
Male
- Slate grey head and upperparts
- Blackish cheeks
- White spots on the wing-coverts
- Pale grey underparts
- White belly
Female
- Olive-brown upperparts
- Rufous crown
- Yellowish-buff underparts
- Buff-barred rufous wings
Immature male: similar to adult male, except they have brown edges to the flight feathers, an olive rump and yellowish underparts.
Distribution
Central and South America:
Central America: found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
Caribbean: Trinidad and Tobago
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina
Taxonomy
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Aconabikh Centre, Tarapoto, San Martín, Peru, December 2016
Subspecies
There are 18 subspecies[1]:
- D. m. septentrionalis: Atlantic slope of southern Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas) to western Panama
- D. m. suffusus: East Panama (Darién) and north-western Colombia (northern Chocó and northern Antioquia)
- D. m. extremus: West Andes and western slope of Central Andes of Colombia
- D. m. aequatorialis: Pacific slope of western Ecuador and extreme north-western Peru (Tumbes)
- D. m. viridis: Mountains of northern Colombia and northern Venezuela
- D. m. cumbreanus: Coastal mountains of northern Venezuela (Falcón and Lara to northern Sucre)
- D. m. oberi: Tobago
- D. m. andrei: North East Venezuela (southern Sucre to north-eastern Bolívar); Trinidad
- D. m. ptaritepui: Tepuis of southern Venezuela (Ptari-tepui and Sororopán-tepui)
- D. m. spodionotus: South Venezuela (southern Bolívar, Amazonas) and northern Brazil (Roraima)
- D. m. semicinereus: Andes of west-central Colombia
- D. m. napensis: Extreme southern Colombia to extreme northern Peru (northern Amazonas)
- D. m. tambillanus: East slope of Andes of northern and central Peru
- D. m. olivaceus: East slope of Andes of Peru (Pasco to Cusco and western Madre de Dios)
- D. m. tavarae: South East Peru (south-eastern Madre de Dios) to central Bolivia
- D. m. emiliae: North East Brazil (soouth-eastern Pará, northern Maranhão, Ceará and Pernambuco, Alagoas)
- D. m. affinis: Extreme north-eastern Bolivia and central Brazil
- D. m. mentalis: South East Brazil (Bahia) to eastern Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina
Habitat
Humid, montane forests, deciduous forests and secondary woodland, forest edges, scrub, Submontane cloud forest , Submontane cloud forest Carribean-slope. Tumbesian dry forest with Ceiba trees. Observed at heights between 610 and 914 m.
Behaviour
The nest is a deep cup constructed in a tree fork. The clutch consists of 2 white eggs with cinnamon markings. They are inclubated by both adults for 15 days. The young fledge after about 9 days.
Diet
Their diet consists of a variety of insects, including larva.
Vocalisation
Song:a musical buu-bu-bu-bu-u-u-u
Calls: various and include a weak naaa and a questioning bu-u-u-u-u?
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2017)
- (Arther Grosset)
- BFMember observations
- Wikipedia
