Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher

Overview

The yellow-browed tody-flycatcher (Todirostrum chrysocrotaphum) is a small tyrant flycatcher found in South America. It inhabits the western and central Amazon Basin and is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• Length of 8.6 to 10 cm and a weight of about 7 g.
• Mostly black head featuring a white spot above the lores and a wide yellow supercilium extending to the nape.
• Bright yellow underparts with thin black streaks on the sides of the throat and across the breast.
• Wings are black with yellow edges, displaying two distinct yellow wing bars formed by the tips of the coverts.
• Song described as a series of eight to twelve sharp, emphatic 'tsip' notes or a high, accelerating chipping series.

Habitat

This species resides in humid terra firme and várzea forest, mature secondary forest, and clearings with tall trees within the western and central Amazon Basin. It generally remains in the forest canopy and is distributed across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Diet

The yellow-browed tody-flycatcher feeds on insects, primarily taking prey from foliage and twigs with short upward and outward sallies from a perch. It typically forages singly or in pairs within the forest canopy and along its edges, rarely joining mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

Nests are constructed as globes of plant fibers hanging from branches, and some are specifically built near the nests of paper wasps.