All species › Passerines › Tyrant flycatchers and allies › Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher | Myiodynastes luteiventris
Zwavelbuiktiran | Papamoscas atigrado | Bem-te-vi-de-barriga-sulfúrea
The Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher breeds from the south-western United States to Costa Rica and winters in western Amazonia. It is the only Myiodynastes that migrates over long distances. In the guide area it is a passage migrant and winter visitor in the canopy of the lowlands.
Voice
A high, shrill, squeaky squee-ee or kee-zeek, reminiscent of a squeaky toy; rather silent on the wintering grounds.
Recording: ALAN MONROY OJEDA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
20–21 cm. A robust, streaked flycatcher with a heavy, almost entirely dark bill. Upperparts olive-brown with dark streaks; rump and tail rufous. A broad blackish mask and a black malar stripe, which meet on the chin, are separated by a whitish cheek stripe. The underparts are pale yellow with sharp black streaks on breast and flanks. A yellow crown patch is usually concealed. Sexes alike.
Confusion species
Streaked Flycatcher Myiodynastes maculatus has whiter underparts, a white chin, a paler base to the lower mandible and usually more rufous in the wing. Variegated Flycatcher Empidonomus varius and Piratic Flycatcher Legatus leucophaius are smaller, with a short bill. Golden-crowned Flycatcher Myiodynastes chrysocephalus has an unstreaked olive-green back.
Habitat
On the wintering grounds in the canopy of humid lowland forest, forest edges, várzea and tall trees in semi-open country, mostly below 1000 m; on migration also higher on the Andean slopes. On the wintering grounds it eats much fruit, besides insects. Outside the guide area it breeds in tree cavities.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: passage migrant, mainly in autumn and spring, locally also wintering in the south-east. Ecuador: winter visitor in the eastern lowlands, passage migrant in the west and on the Andean slopes. Peru: winter visitor in the Amazonian lowlands. Bolivia: winter visitor in the north. Absent from the Galápagos. Breeds outside the guide area from Arizona through Mexico to Costa Rica.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search from October to March in the canopy of lowland forest in eastern Ecuador and Peru, especially around fruiting trees, where it forages with other flycatchers.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Common over a large range.
Scientific name
Myiodynastes luteiventris | Sclater, 1859
Sclater described the species in 1859 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Myiodynastes was introduced in 1857 by Bonaparte. The genus name comes from Greek muia, 'fly', and dunastēs, 'ruler'. The species name comes from Latin luteus, 'yellow', and venter, 'belly'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.