Gnatwrens and gnatcatchers | Polioptilidae

Muggenvangers | Perlitas | Gnatwrens and gnatcatchers

A small American family of songbirds numbering nine species in three genera in this guide, from dry scrub and dry forest on the Pacific side of Ecuador and northern Peru and in the Marañón valley to humid rainforest in the Chocó and the Amazonian lowlands at the foot of the Andes. They are small, slim, active birds with a thin, pointed bill. The gnatcatchers are mostly blue-grey above and white below, with a long, narrow black tail with white outer feathers that they constantly cock, spread and wave from side to side; in several species the male has a black cap or a black mask. The gnatwrens are browner, with a longer, very fine bill and a short or long, often cocked tail, and live in the undergrowth and vine tangles of humid forest. All species search restlessly for small insects and spiders in the foliage, the gnatcatchers often in mixed flocks. The voice consists of thin, nasal or squeaky calls; the song is a soft warble, and that of the Trilling Gnatwren a clear, even trill. The gnatcatchers' nest is a deep, neat cup of plant fibres bound with spider silk and often covered with lichen, placed on a branch.