Sclater's Tyrannulet

Overview

Sclater's tyrannulet (Phyllomyias sclateri) is a species of tyrant flycatcher found in the east slope of the Andes in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. The species, which is considered rare to uncommon but is currently assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.

Identification

• Length between 11.5 and 12.5 cm with dull olive-green upperparts and a grayish tinge on the crown for the nominate subspecies.
• Whitish lores, narrow supercilium, and a pale gray breast that transitions to pale yellowish on the flanks and belly.
• Dusky wings with pale yellow to whitish edges on the flight feathers, creating two bars on the closed wing, and a blackish bill with a paler base.
• A deep, gruff chanting song described as 'djeer djeer djeer djeer' interspersed with sharper 'tchik' notes.

Habitat

It primarily inhabits the interior of humid montane forest and cloud forest, also occurring at forest edges and in clearings and woodlands heavy with alder (Alnus). Its elevation ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 m in Peru and northern Bolivia, and from 400 to 1,500 m in southern Bolivia and Argentina.

Diet

It feeds on insects by gleaning from vegetation while perched and while briefly hovering. Foraging takes place mostly in the forest canopy but also in the mid-level, and the bird often joins mixed-species foraging flocks dominated by tanagers.

Did you know?

Although its taxonomy was stable by the 1970s, some authors in the early to mid-twentieth century placed the species in the genus Xanthomyias before it was merged into Phyllomyias.