Rufous-brown Solitaire

Overview

The rufous-brown solitaire (Cichlopsis leucogenys) is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. It is a relatively small thrush characterised by a highly disjunct distribution across South America.

Identification

• Measures 20 to 21 cm in length and weighs approximately 61 g, with a stout, slightly hooked bill featuring a blackish maxilla and a bright yellow to orangish-yellow mandible.
• Plumage is generally rufous-brown or dark cinnamon on the head, upperparts, and upper breast, contrasting with dingy whitish underparts and bright cinnamon undertail coverts.
• Possesses a distinctive pale whitish to yellow ring of bare skin around the eye, along with yellowish to brownish-yellow legs and feet.
• Produces a complex, musical song composed of rapid, variable phrases that may include squeaky notes, chips, short buzzes, and trills.

Habitat

Inhabits humid to wet montane forest and mature secondary forest, particularly areas heavy with moss. It occupies elevations ranging from sea level to 1,450 m, depending on the subspecies, across parts of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Diet

Feeds primarily on fruit, specifically known to consume figs and species from the Melastomataceae family, and is believed to supplement its diet with invertebrates. It forages singly or in pairs, plucking fruit while perched or making brief sallies from a perch, and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

Its song is highly complex and varies significantly by region, ranging from 'squeaky and chattery' sequences in Venezuela to 'rapid sequences of inhaled fff' in eastern Brazil.