All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Olive-striped Flycatcher
Olive-striped Flycatcher | Mionectes olivaceus
Olijfstreeppipratiran | Mosquerito olivirrayado | Abre-asa-listrado
The Olive-striped Flycatcher is a streaked, olive-green tyrant flycatcher of humid forest in the foothills and lower montane zone, on the Pacific side also in the lowlands. It feeds mainly on small berries and often sits still for long periods in the understorey. Some birds move to lower elevations outside the breeding season.
Voice
The male sings a series of very high, thin, wispy notes, often for long periods from a fixed song post; also a soft tsip.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13 cm, with a thin, dark bill. The head and upperparts are olive-green, with a small yellow or pale spot behind the eye. The underparts are streaked olive-green and yellow from the throat onto the belly; the belly is paler yellow. The wings are olive-green without distinct wing-bars. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Streak-necked Flycatcher Mionectes striaticollis has a greyer head, streaking mainly on the throat and neck and a plain yellow belly, and usually lives higher. Ochre-bellied Flycatcher Mionectes oleagineus has an unstreaked ochre belly. Inca Flycatcher Leptopogon taczanowskii and its relatives have distinct wing-bars and a dark ear patch.
Habitat
The understorey and middle storey of humid foothill and lower montane forest, forest edges and old secondary forest, roughly from sea level on the Pacific side and about 600 m on the east slope up to 2000 m, locally higher. It eats mainly small berries, especially of melastomes and mistletoe, supplemented with insects. The nest is a pear-shaped structure of moss suspended from a root or branch, often above a stream or bank.
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 and in the foothills and lower montane zone of the three Andean ranges and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Ecuador: in the west from Esmeraldas to El Oro and on the east slope of the Andes. Peru: on the east slope from Amazonas to Cusco and Puno, locally also in the foothills of Madre de Dios. Bolivia: absent or nearly so; there are at most a few isolated reports. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Costa Rica and Panama to Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Watch fruiting melastomes and mistletoe along forest edges in the foothills, for example in western Ecuador or on the east slope in Peru; a high, wispy song from the understorey often gives away a singing male.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated. The species has recently been defined differently and so has no assessment of its own yet. It is widespread and tolerates forest edges and secondary forest.
Scientific name
Mionectes olivaceus | Lawrence, 1868
Lawrence described the species in 1868 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Mionectes was introduced in 1844 by Cabanis. The genus name comes from Greek meionektēs, 'small, having suffered loss', from meionekteō, 'to have too little'. Cabanis (1844) described the species as small birds. The species name comes from Latin olivaceus, 'olive-green', referring to the plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Barranca, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.