Slate-throated Gnatcatcher

Overview

The slate-throated gnatcatcher (Polioptila schistaceigula) is a small bird belonging to the family Polioptilidae. It is currently classified as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• Length of 10 to 11 cm with a weight of approximately 6 g.
• Slate gray crown, head sides, and upperparts, with a darker back; whitish cheeks and sooty throat and breast.
• White belly and flanks, and a mostly black tail with white on the outermost feathers.
• Emits a short, faint, ascending trill described as 'trrrrrrt' and a nasal mewing call.

Habitat

Found from central and eastern Panama south through western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. It inhabits humid primary forest, mature secondary forest, and their borders, mostly at elevations up to 750 m.

Diet

The diet is probably small arthropods, similar to other Polioptila gnatcatchers. Foraging involves active movement through the canopy, sub-canopy, and lower forest edges, often following mixed-species foraging flocks singly or in pairs.

Did you know?

The species is monotypic and appears to be the sister group to the Guianan gnatcatcher, with previous suggestions that they may have been conspecific.