Brown-backed Solitaire - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Greg Lavaty
El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Tamaulipas, Mexico, November 2009

Myadestes occidentalis

Identification

20·5–21·5 cm

• Brown with some grey markings.

Distribution

Central America: found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Subspecies oberholseri
Photo by Stanley Jones
Chelemha Lodge, southeast of Coban, Alta Verapaz Department, Guatemala, April 2010

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 5 subspecies^[1]:

• M. o. cinereus:

• Mountains of Mexico (south-eastern Sonora to Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango)

• M. o. occidentalis:

• Mountains of western Mexico (Nayarit to Guerrero, western Oaxaca and Morelos)

• M. o. insularis:

• Tres Marías Islands (off western Mexico)

• M. o. deignani:

• Mountains of southern Mexico (Oaxaca and southern Chiapas)

• M. o. oberholseri:

• Mountains of southern Mexico to Guatemala, El Salvador and central Honduras

One of these, deignani, is generally considered invalid as, too, is orientalis^[2].

Habitat

Mountain forests near water.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of fruit.

Vocalisation

Cumbres de Nuevo Leon, Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico, May 2014
Recorded by sgossler

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2014)
4. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Brown-backed Solitaire. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 13 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brown-backed_Solitaire

External Links

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