Tawny-crowned Greenlet

Overview

The Tunchiornis ochraceiceps, formerly known as the tawny-crowned greenlet, is a small bird in the family Vireonidae. It is found in Central America and parts of South America, though its taxonomy is unsettled as some authorities now classify it as a brownlet due to its coloration and genetic distance from other greenlets.

Identification

• Size: 9.5 to 13 cm long and 8.4 to 13.5 g, with olive-brown upperparts that are slightly greenish on the rump.
• Plumage: Features a yellowish forehead, yellow-brown crown, and dull grayish face; the breast is ochraceous with a yellow center to the belly and grayish-yellow vent.
• Song: A pure whistle steadily repeated many times at intervals of a few seconds, written as "wi-seeeeee" or "wi-heeeeee", accompanied by a rapidly repeated rising nasal note: "nya-nya-nya-nya".

Habitat

A year-round resident of low-altitude humid evergreen forests from sea level to 1,300 m in southern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific coast of Colombia and northern Ecuador. It inhabits mature wet forest and is primarily dependent on large tracts of undisturbed woodland.

Diet

Primarily eats arthropods, including insects and spiders, with occasional small berries. It forages actively from the lower levels to the mid-story of the forest by gleaning from live and dead foliage or making short sallies, often joining mixed-species flocks or attending army ant swarms in Mexico.

Did you know?

The bird's classification has shifted recently from greenlet to brownlet because the genus is not closely related to other greenlets and its species are more brown than green in appearance.