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Spotted Tody-Flycatcher | Todirostrum maculatum
Gevlekte schoffelsnavel | Espatulilla moteada | Ferreirinho-estriado
The Spotted Tody-Flycatcher is a small tyrant with a broad, flat bill that lives along the banks of large rivers in Amazonia. It is tied to scrub, young forest and gardens near water and is detected mainly by its loud, repeated call. Pairs remain together all year in a fixed territory.
Voice
A loud, sharp pik or kwik, repeated quickly and often for long periods. Partners often call alternately, so that it sounds like a duet.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9.5–10 cm, with a long, flat bill and a fairly short tail that is often cocked. The crown and head are dark grey, the back olive-green. The wings are black with yellow edgings and two narrow yellow wing bars. The throat and breast are whitish with dense black streaks, the belly is yellow. The eye is yellow to orange. The sexes are alike; young birds are duller, with a darker eye.
Confusion species
Common Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum cinereum has unstreaked, entirely yellow underparts and a black forehead, and more often occurs away from riverbanks. Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum chrysocrotaphum has a black crown with a yellow eyebrow, a dark eye and at most spots on the breast, and lives high in the forest canopy.
Habitat
Scrub and young forest on riverbanks and river islands, várzea edges, cecropia regrowth, plantations and gardens in riverside villages, up to about 500 m. It forages in pairs in the lower and middle strata for insects, which it picks from leaves with short sallies. The nest is a hanging, pear-shaped pouch with a side entrance, suspended from a thin branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: in Amazonia in the south-east, along the Amazon and its large tributaries. Ecuador: in the eastern lowlands along the large rivers. Peru: in the Amazonian lowlands along rivers, commoner in the north and centre than in the south. Bolivia: in the north, along the rivers of Pando and Beni. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Amazonian Brazil, Venezuela and the Guianas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search scrub and gardens right along the large rivers, for example near villages and landing places; listen for the series of loud pik notes of a pair.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates disturbance and also lives in gardens and young growth along rivers.
Scientific name
Todirostrum maculatum | (Desmarest, A-G, 1806)
Desmarest, A-G described the species in 1806 as Todus maculatus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Todirostrum was introduced in 1831 by Lesson. The genus name combines the genus Todus (todies) with Latin rostrum, 'bill', after the flat, tody-like bill. The species name is Latin maculatus, 'spotted', after the streaked throat and breast. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.