All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Grey-breasted Flycatcher
Grey-breasted Flycatcher | Lathrotriccus griseipectus
Grijsborstfeetiran | Mosquero pechigrís | Enferrujado-de-peito-cinza
The Grey-breasted Flycatcher is a small tyrant of the understorey of dry and semi-humid forest in the Tumbesian region of western Ecuador and north-western Peru. White spectacles and a grey breast distinguish it from the other small tyrants in that forest. The species occurs only in the guide area and depends on the remaining forest of this heavily deforested region.
Voice
A quick, slightly hoarse series of a few notes and a short, dry pit. It calls frequently, mainly in the rainy season.
Recording: Mitch Lysinger — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12.5 cm. The crown and head are grey, the back greyish olive. A white spot in front of the eye and a white eye-ring together form distinct spectacles. The wings are dark with two broad, whitish wing bars. The throat is whitish, the breast grey and the belly whitish with a pale yellow wash. The upper mandible is dark, the lower mandible pale. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Tumbes Pewee Contopus punensis is larger, perches upright on open branches, has no eye-ring and less distinct wing bars. Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens occurs only in the northern winter, is greener above, with a less grey breast and longer primaries. Bran-colored Flycatcher Myiophobus fasciatus is browner, with a streaked breast and buff wing bars, and lives in open scrub.
Habitat
Understorey and lower mid-storey of dry and semi-humid deciduous forest, more humid forest in ravines and old secondary forest, from the lowlands to about 1700 m. It perches on a low branch in the shade and catches insects in short sallies to leaves or in the air. It lives alone or in pairs. 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
Ecuador: in the west, mainly from Manabí south to El Oro and Loja. Peru: in the north-west, in Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque and western Cajamarca. Absent from Colombia, Bolivia and the Galápagos. The species is endemic to the Tumbesian region and so occurs only within the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the understorey of deciduous forest in south-western Ecuador or in Tumbes in Peru for a small tyrant with a grey breast and white spectacles; it calls often in the rainy season.
Conservation status
Least Concern according to the current assessment, but the forest of the Tumbesian region has largely been cleared or grazed by goats and cattle, and the species depends on the remaining forest areas.
Scientific name
Lathrotriccus griseipectus | (Lawrence, 1869)
Lawrence described the species in 1869 as Empidonax griseipectus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Lathrotriccus was introduced in 1986 by Lanyon & Lanyon. The genus name comes from Greek lathrios, 'secret, hidden', and triccus, 'small bird'; according to its authors (W. and S. Lanyon, 1986), 'hidden' refers not to the bird's habits but to its obscurity within the genus Empidonax. The species name comes from New Latin griseus, 'grey', and Latin pectus, 'breast'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Puná Island, Ecuador.