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Grey-capped Flycatcher | Myiozetetes granadensis
Grijskruintiran | Bienteveo cabecigrís | Bem-te-vi-de-cabeça-cinza
The Grey-capped Flycatcher is the only one of the short-billed kiskadee-like flycatchers without a black-and-white striped head: the crown and cheeks are grey. It lives in forest edge, along rivers and in semi-open country in the humid lowlands, often in pairs that call noisily. Its range overlaps broadly with that of Social Flycatcher.
Voice
A sharp, repeated kip or keep, built up into a fast series kip-kip-kip-kirrip; pairs often call together.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
16–18 cm, with a short, black bill. The crown and cheeks are grey, with a white forehead and a short white stripe reaching only above the eye; the male has a concealed orange crown patch, the female a smaller one or none. The upperparts are olive-green, the wing feathers with narrow pale edges. The throat is white, the underparts bright yellow. Juveniles lack the crown patch.
Confusion species
Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis and Rusty-margined Flycatcher Myiozetetes cayanensis have a dark crown with a long white supercilium reaching the nape and a black mask. Dusky-chested Flycatcher Myiozetetes luteiventris is smaller and darker, with a mottled olive-brown breast. Three-striped Flycatcher Conopias trivirgatus has a blackish head with a long white stripe and a yellow throat.
Habitat
Forest edge, riverbanks, older secondary forest, plantations and semi-open country with tall trees in the humid lowlands, to about 1200 m. It catches insects from a perch in the middle and upper storeys and eats berries and small fruits. The nest is a domed ball of plant material with a side entrance in a tree or shrub.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: in the Pacific lowlands, the north, the Magdalena Valley and the lowlands east of the Andes. Ecuador: in the western and eastern lowlands. Peru: in the lowlands east of the Andes. Bolivia: in the lowlands of the north. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Honduras to Panama, in Venezuela and in western Amazonian Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along forest edges and rivers, look among Social Flycatchers for a bird with a grey head without a black mask, and listen for the sharp kip calls.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread and tolerates secondary forest and edges.
Scientific name
Myiozetetes granadensis | Lawrence, 1862
Lawrence described the species in 1862 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Myiozetetes was introduced in 1859 by Sclater. The genus name combines Greek muias, 'fly', and zētētēs, 'searcher'. Refers to New Granada, the old name for the region of present-day Colombia and Panama. The specimen the first description was based on came from Isthmus of Panama.