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Spectacled Bristle Tyrant | Pogonotriccus orbitalis
Brillooftiran | Orejerito de anteojos | Barbudinho-de-óculos
The Spectacled Bristle Tyrant is a small tyrant of the foothills on the east slope of the Andes, named for the pale ring around the eye. It perches upright on a thin twig in the middle storey and repeatedly lifts one wing, a habit shared by the bristle tyrants of Pogonotriccus. It forages almost always with mixed flocks.
Voice
A short, high, rapidly descending trill and a few thin tsip calls, often heard from within a mixed flock.
Recording: Iván Lau — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11 cm, with a narrow black bill. Crown and upperparts olive-green; the face greyish with a conspicuous white to yellowish-white eye-ring and a faint dark patch at the rear of the ear-coverts. The wings are dark with two yellow wing-bars and yellow-edged flight feathers. The throat is greyish-white, the rest of the underparts yellow with an olive wash on the breast. Sexes alike; juveniles duller.
Confusion species
Variegated Bristle Tyrant Pogonotriccus poecilotis has rufous wing-bars, a grey crown and lives higher. Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant Pogonotriccus ophthalmicus has a grey-and-white marbled face and also lives higher. Ecuadorian Tyrannulet Phylloscartes gualaquizae has a greyer head, perches more horizontally and often holds the tail cocked. Slaty-capped Flycatcher Leptopogon superciliaris is larger, with a slaty cap and a distinct black ear patch.
Habitat
The middle storey and edges of humid foothill and lower montane forest, also along streams and clearings, roughly between 600 and 1500 m. It takes insects, which it picks from leaves and twigs in short sallies from a perch. The nest is a globular moss structure with a side entrance.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: only in the far south, on the east slope of the Andes in Putumayo and Nariño. Ecuador: on the east slope along the whole length of the country. Peru: on the east slope from Amazonas and San Martín south to Puno. Bolivia: in the Yungas of La Paz and Cochabamba. Absent from the Galápagos. Not known outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search foothill forest on the east slope at 800–1300 m and follow the mixed flocks in the middle storey; watch for a small yellow-green tyrant that perches upright and lifts one wing.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is fairly common locally, but tied to foothill forest, a zone that is being cleared in many places.
Scientific name
Pogonotriccus orbitalis | (Cabanis, 1873) (GBIF: Phylloscartes orbitalis)
Cabanis described the species in 1873 as Capsiempis orbitalis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Pogonotriccus was introduced in 1860 by Cabanis & Heine. The genus name comes from Greek pōgōn, 'beard', and trikkos, a small unidentified bird, used in ornithology for tyrant flycatchers. The species name comes from Latin orbita, 'eye socket', for the pale eye-ring. The specimen the first description was based on came from Monterico, Peru.