- Polioptila plumbea
Identification
10-12.7 cm (4-5 in)
- Black crown, neck sides and stripe behind the eye
- Blue-grey upperparts
- Black wings with white edging on the tertials
- Long, thin black tail with narrow white tips and edges
- White face and belly
- Pale grey underparts
Female: similar to the male, but with a dark grey, rather than black, crown.
Young birds have a brown tinge to the upperparts and face, and whiter underparts.
Variation
Some subspecies has the cap reaching down to the eye both in front and behind, others have a white lore and arch above the eye, reaching a thin black line going backwards from the eye to the cap. The subspecies with the larger cap (reaching further down in front of the eye) are found in the north and northeast of the range as well as in the Marañón valley of Peru.
Distribution
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, all east of the Andes.
Taxonomy
White-lored Gnatcatcher has previously been included within Tropical Gnatcatcher but the split seems to be widely accepted. Likewise, White-browed Gnatcatcher has recently been split from this species.
Subspecies
This species currently has about seven subspecies[1].
- P. p. anteocularis: North Colombia (upper Magdalena Valley)
- P. p. maior: Tropical eastern Peru (upper Río Marañón) from Piura to La Libertad
- P. p. plumbiceps: East slope of Andes of northern Colombia to northern Venezuela; Isla Margarita
- P. p. innotata: Extreme eastern Colombia to southern Venezuela and extreme northern Brazil
- P. p. plumbea: The Guianas and north-eastern Brazil (Rio Tapajós to northern Maranhão)
- P. p. parvirostris: Western Amazonia, from southern Colombia south to southeastern Peru (Madre de Dios) and east to adjacent Brazil (Acre and western Amazonas)
- P. p. atricapilla: North East Brazil (Maranhão to Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco and Bahia)
Habitat
Lowlands and foothills from sea level to about 1500 m. They occupy a wide of habitats from canopy of forests, forest edges, overgrown pastures and plantations etc.
Behaviour
Diet
Their main diet consists of small arthropods and spiders.
Breeding
The nest is a small cup made from vegetable fibres. The clutch consists of 2-3 white eggs with brown spots.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Sept 2017)
- Schulenberg, T. S. & Stotz, D. F. & Lane, D. F. & O'Neill, J. P. & Parker III, T. A. & Egg, A. B. (2010). Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691130231
- Hilty, S.L. 2021. Birds of Colombia. Lynx and Birdlife International Field Guides, Lynx Editions, Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-16728-24-4
- The Beauty of Birds
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Tropical Gnatcatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tropical_Gnatcatcher
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
