- Ptilogonys cinereus
Identification
18.5-21cm. Slender bird with gray head, crest, and upperparts. Prominent white eye-ring and dark gray lories. Throat and chest gray, flanks olive grading to bright yellow on undertail coverts. The tail has a broad white band that is prominent from below when perched. Flight feathers are black. An attractive, alert upright bird at perch.
Distribution
This is a bird of Mexico and Guatemala. Its range begins in the north in the Sierra Occidental Mountains in southwest Chihuahua and Sonora, as well as the Sierra Oriental Mountains in sourthern Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. The range extends through the those ranges through the mountains of Guatemala, but does not extend into Honduras. Accidental vagrant to southern Caiifornia and Texas (2 records).
Taxonomy
Silky-flycatchers used to be in the Bombycillidae (Waxings and Silky FC), but are now usually considered in their own family, Ptilogonatidae.
Subspecies[1]
- P. c. otofuscus:
- Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico
- P. c. cinereus:
- Highlands of central and eastern Mexico
- P. c. pallescens:
- Highlands of south-western Mexico (eastern Michoacán and Guerrero)
- P. c. molybdophanes:
Habitat
Mid to upper levels of humid to semiarid mixed forests and edges. Travels in pairs or small flocks, (rarely) up to a few hundred birds. Typically found from 1000-3500m. in elevation, lower in winter in the northern climes.
Behaviour
Feeds on fruit and insects. Nest is a cup of plant materials located in the saddle of a bush or tree. Lays two eggs.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Gray Silky-flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Gray_Silky-flycatcher
