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Northern Scrub Flycatcher | Sublegatus arenarum
Noordelijke struikvliegenpikker | Mosquero matorralero norteño | Sertanejo-do-norte
The Northern Scrub Flycatcher is a small grey-and-yellow tyrant flycatcher of dry coastal scrub and mangroves along the Caribbean coast. In the guide area it occurs only in northern Colombia. It perches upright and quietly in the shrubs and often first reveals itself by its call.
Voice
A thin, high, slightly descending whistle, repeated at intervals, and soft short calls; a repeated song at dusk.
Recording: Gean Carlo Valdés — CC0 1.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14 cm, with a short, all-black bill and an upright posture. The head and upperparts are greyish brown, with a short pale grey line above the lores. The wings are dark with two pale grey wing bars. The throat and breast are grey, the belly pale yellow, with a fairly sharp transition. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Mouse-colored Tyrannulet Nesotriccus murinus has a pale base to the lower mandible, buffy wing bars and a whitish belly. Southern Beardless Tyrannulet Camptostoma obsoletum is smaller, with a small crest, and often cocks its tail. Yellow-bellied Elaenia Elaenia flavogaster is larger, with a shaggy crest showing white and a longer bill with a pale base. Southern Scrub Flycatcher Sublegatus modestus is very similar, but lives elsewhere in the guide area.
Habitat
Dry scrub, thorn and cactus scrub, mangroves and shrubby edges of dry forest and pasture in the lowlands, mostly below 500 m. It perches quietly in the middle level of shrubs and small trees and sallies briefly after insects or picks them from leaves; it also eats small fruits. The nest is a small, shallow cup in a branch fork.
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 dry Caribbean lowlands, mainly in La Guajira, Magdalena and Atlántico. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama, in northern Venezuela, on the offshore islands and in the coastal regions of the Guianas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search dry scrub and mangroves along the coast of La Guajira or around Santa Marta; the bird often perches quietly and upright inside a shrub, so listen for the thin whistle.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread in dry coastal scrub; mangroves and scrub are locally lost to building and farming.
Scientific name
Sublegatus arenarum | (Salvin, 1863)
Salvin described the species in 1863 as Elainea arenarum; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Sublegatus was introduced in 1868 by Sclater & Salvin. The genus name comes from Latin sub, 'somewhat, almost', and the genus Legatus (Piratic Flycatcher): 'resembling Legatus'. The species name is Latin arenarum, 'of the sands' (from arena, 'sand'), and refers to the type locality Punta Arenas in Costa Rica. The specimen the first description was based on came from Puntarenas, Costa Rica.