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Cinereous Mourner | Laniocera hypopyrra
Grauwe treurtiran | Plañidera cinérea | Chorona-cinza
The Cinereous Mourner is a medium-sized, grey bird of the lowland rainforest of Amazonia. It sits still for long periods in the middle level and is mainly noticed by its song, a long series of clear whistles. Males sing at fixed sites, sometimes in loose groups.
Voice
A long series of clear, somewhat plaintive two-syllable whistles, something like tee-yoo, tee-yoo, tee-yoo, repeated with short pauses.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
20–21 cm, with a fairly large, rounded head, a straight, dark bill and a fairly long tail. Mainly ash grey, the belly slightly paler. The wing coverts and tertials have cinnamon tips that form rows of spots. On the side of the breast is an orange to yellow tuft of feathers, often hidden under the wing. Young birds have rufous spots below. The sexes are nearly alike.
Confusion species
Greyish Mourner Rhytipterna simplex is slightly smaller and plainer grey, without cinnamon wing spots. Screaming Piha Lipaugus vociferans is larger and plain grey, without wing spots, and has a very loud, whistled call. Pale-bellied Mourner Rhytipterna immunda has a pale, yellowish belly and lives in forest on sandy soils.
Habitat
Humid terra firme lowland forest, also forest on sandy soils and the edges of várzea, up to about 700 m. It sits in the middle level. It eats fruit and large insects, often taken from leaves in flight. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Amazonian lowlands of the east and south-east. In Ecuador in the eastern lowlands. In Peru throughout the Amazonian lowlands east of the Andes. In Bolivia in the northern and central lowlands. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Venezuela, the Guianas and Amazonian and eastern Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen in tall lowland forest for the repeated whistled series; the singer often sits for a long time on the same branch in the middle level, so it can be tracked down with patience.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Widespread in the guide area, but dependent on large, unbroken forest.
Scientific name
Laniocera hypopyrra | (Vieillot, 1817)
Vieillot described the species in 1817 as Ampelis hypopyrra; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Laniocera was introduced in 1841 by Lesson. The genus name combines Lanius, Linnaeus's 1758 shrike genus, with Greek keras, 'horn', here meaning 'bill'. The species name comes from Greek hupo, 'below', and purrhos, 'flame-coloured': 'flame-coloured below'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.