Cinereous Mourner

Overview

The cinereous mourner, Laniocera hypopyrra, is a species of bird in the family Tityridae found in mainland South America, excluding Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It is a monotypic species that forms a superspecies with the speckled mourner. The name "cinereous" signifies its ash-coloured plumage.

Identification

• Measures 20 to 21 cm in length and weighs 41 to 51 g, with both sexes displaying identical plumage.
• Mostly grey upperparts, wings, and tail with a thin orange ring around the eye, dark bill, and grey legs.
• Primaries feature two rows of cinnamon spots appearing as broken wing bars, while underparts are a slightly paler grey that may have black-tipped orange spots on the breast.
• Song consists of 10–15 high-pitched, thin, drowsy whistles starting with a long cheeeeee-a-wee, described as ventrioquial and insect-like, carrying a great distance with long pauses between bouts.

Habitat

This species inhabits humid terra firme and igapó forests, favouring sloping terrain near ravines, and occasionally occurs in sandy soil forests and savanna woodlands. Its range covers the Orinoco and Amazon basins, extending from southeastern Colombia through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to the Guianas and Amazonian Brazil, with an isolated population in eastern Brazil.

Diet

The cinereous mourner feeds on arthropods and fruit, foraging from the forest understory to the midstory usually singly or in mixed-species flocks. It forages by perching silently and making short sallies, sometimes hovering, to glean from foliage or branches.

Did you know?

Nestlings of this species are orange with long filoplumes that resemble hairy caterpillars of the moth family Megalopygidae, moving their heads side to side in what may be the first recorded case of Batesian mimicry by a harmless bird mimicking a toxic insect.