All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Ashy-headed Tyrannulet
Ashy-headed Tyrannulet | Tyranniscus cinereiceps
Grijskopvliegenpikker | Tiranolete cabecicenizo | Piolhinho-de-cabeça-cinérea
The Ashy-headed Tyrannulet is a small tyrannulet of the canopy of humid montane forest in the Andes from Colombia to Peru. The ash-grey head with a black patch on the ear coverts is the main feature. It forages high in the trees, mostly in mixed flocks.
Voice
A high, sharp tsip and short series of thin, rapid notes.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
10.5 cm, with a short, black bill. The head is ash-grey, with whitish lores and a black, crescent-shaped patch on the ear coverts. The upperparts are olive-green. The wings are dark, with two yellow wing bars. The underparts are yellow, the breast with olive streaks. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Black-capped Tyrannulet Tyranniscus nigrocapillus lives higher and has a black cap without an ear patch. Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet Phyllomyias plumbeiceps also has a dark ear patch, but has a white eyebrow, a more olive face and an unstreaked breast. Golden-faced Tyrannulet Zimmerius chrysops has a yellow face and no true wing bars.
Habitat
The canopy and edges of humid montane forest and cloud forest, roughly between 1500 and 2500 m. It searches for small insects and berries high in the trees, mostly in mixed flocks with tanagers. The nest has been little described.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: locally along the Andean ranges. Ecuador: mainly on the east slope of the Andes. Peru: along the east slope of the Andes south to the south of the country. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Hardly or not at all found outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search mixed flocks in the canopy along roads through montane forest on the east slope, and look for the grey head with the black ear patch.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is locally scarce and depends on humid montane forest.
Scientific name
Tyranniscus cinereiceps | (Sclater, 1860)
Sclater described the species in 1860 as Tyrannulus cinereiceps; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Tyranniscus was introduced in 1860 by Cabanis & Heine. The genus name is a diminutive of Ancient Greek tyrannos, 'tyrant', so 'little tyrant'. The specific name comes from Latin cinereus, 'ash-grey', and -ceps, 'headed': 'grey-headed'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Pallatanga, Chimborazo, Ecuador.