All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Slaty-headed Tody-Flycatcher
Slaty-headed Tody-Flycatcher | Poecilotriccus sylvia
Grijskeelschoffelsnavel | Espatulilla gris | Ferreirinho-da-capoeira
The Slaty-headed Tody-Flycatcher is a small tyrant with a slate-grey head and a white line above the lores. In the guide area it occurs only in Colombia, where it is common in dense scrub and thickets in the lowlands and on the lower slopes.
Voice
Insect- or frog-like sounds: soft, gravelly trup notes and a nasal grrrr; also a two-part tip!-purrrrrrr.
Recording: Esteban Ramos — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9.5 cm, with a flat bill. The crown, nape and face are slate-grey, with a white line above the lores and a broken white eye-ring. The back is olive. The wings are blackish with two yellow wing bars and yellow edgings. The throat and underparts are greyish white, with grey streaks on the lower throat and breast and an olive wash on the flanks. The iris is usually dark. The sexes are alike; juveniles have an olive crown and buff wing bars.
Confusion species
Common Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum cinereum has yellow underparts, a pale iris and a longer, often cocked tail. Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrant Atalotriccus pilaris is smaller, has a pale iris and lacks the grey head. Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum nigriceps has a black head and yellow underparts and stays in the treetops.
Habitat
Dense, scrubby vegetation in tropical and lower subtropical zones: edges of primary and secondary forest, overgrown clearings, scrubby pastures, gallery forest and fairly open woodland. From sea level to about 1350 m. It forages low to mid-height in dense foliage for insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: the Caribbean coast, the Magdalena and Cauca valleys, the middle Dagua valley and the eastern slope of the Eastern Andes south to Meta, and the extreme east. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from southern Mexico through Central America to Venezuela, the Guianas and parts of Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen in dense scrub at forest edges and in overgrown pastures in the Magdalena valley or along the Caribbean coast of Colombia for the nasal, frog-like grrrr; the bird usually stays hidden in the foliage.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is common, has a large range and tolerates human-altered vegetation.
Scientific name
Poecilotriccus sylvia | (Desmarest, A-G, 1806)
Desmarest, A-G described the species in 1806 as Todus sylvia; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Poecilotriccus was introduced in 1884 by Berlepsch. The genus name comes from Greek poikilos, 'variegated, pied', and trikkos, a small unidentified bird, used in ornithology for tyrant flycatchers. The species name comes from Modern Latin sylvia, 'woodland sprite, little bird, warbler', from Latin silva, 'woodland'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Probably Cayenne, French Guiana.