All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Golden-bellied Flycatcher
Golden-bellied Flycatcher | Myiodynastes hemichrysus
Goudbuiktiran | Bienteveo ventridorado | Bem-te-vi-de-barriga-dourada
The Golden-bellied Flycatcher is a large, boldly head-patterned flycatcher of the montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. It is closely related to the Golden-crowned Flycatcher of the Andes. In the guide area the species has not been established with certainty; the account is given for comparison.
Voice
A loud, high, somewhat squeaky seejew or kees-yew, often repeated, and a shrill, rapidly repeated series when excited.
Recording: Daan van der Hoeven — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
20–21 cm. A sturdy flycatcher with a heavy black bill. The upperparts are olive-green, the crown darker with a usually concealed yellow crown patch. A broad blackish eyestripe and a dark malar stripe frame a white supercilium and cheek stripe. Throat and underparts are bright yellow, with at most a faint olive wash or streaking on the breast. Wings and tail are dark with narrow pale edges. Sexes alike; juveniles lack the crown patch.
Confusion species
Golden-crowned Flycatcher Myiodynastes chrysocephalus of the Andes has a pale, buffy throat, an olive-grey breast band with faint streaking and rufous edges to the wing and tail feathers. Boat-billed Flycatcher Megarynchus pitangua and Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus have a black crown with a white supercilium that runs around the head and no malar stripe.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest and forest edges, especially along streams and ravines, mostly between 700 and 2000 m. It sallies from a perch for large insects and also eats berries. It builds a cup nest in a crevice, on a ledge or among epiphytes, often above water.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia: not established with certainty; records from the guide area probably refer to Golden-crowned Flycatcher. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Within the guide area there is no regular site for this species. A yellow bird of this type in the Andes is almost always a Golden-crowned Flycatcher; check the colour of throat and breast.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Fairly common in a small range in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama.
Scientific name
Myiodynastes hemichrysus | (Cabanis, 1861)
Cabanis described the species in 1861 as Hypermitres hemichrysus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Myiodynastes was introduced in 1857 by Bonaparte. The genus name comes from Greek muia, 'fly', and dunastēs, 'ruler'. The species name comes from Greek hēmi, 'half', and khrusos, 'gold'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Los Frailes, Costa Rica.