Elegant Crescentchest (Melanopareia elegans)

Order: Passeriformes | Family: Melanopareiidae  | IUCN Status: Least Concern

elegant_crescentchest
Age: Adult | Sex: Male | Loc. Loja, Ecuador

elegant_crescentchest
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Olmos, Lambayeque

elegant_crescentchest
Age: Adult | Sex: Male | Loc. Lambayeque

elegant_crescentchest
Age: Adult | Sex: Male | Loc. El Angolo, Piura

Identification & Behavior: ~15 cm (6 in). The male Elegant Crescentchest has a black head with a creamy-white throat and eyebrows that project towards the nape area. The breast is chestnut with a broad black crescent across. Females are similar but have the crescent reduced and rufous underparts. Both sexes have dark feathers with rufous margins as wing coverts. It is similar to the Marañon Crescentchest, but the two species do not overlap geographically.

Status: The Elegant Crescentchest is common to uncommon in the dry forest and scrub of extreme northwestern Peru. It is known to range to elevations of up to 1000 m along the foothills of the Andes. It also occurs in Ec.

Name in Spanish: Pecho-de-Luna Elegante.

Sub-species: Elegant Crescentchest (Melanopareia elegans paucalensis) (Lesson, 1844).

Meaning of Name:  Melanopareia: Gr. melas, melanus= black, parëion= cheek. elegans: L. elegant, ornate.

Go to the Family Melanopareiidae   peru aves

Distribution Map
elegant crescentchestVoice

References:

    • Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo), The Field Museum. http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 10/18/2014.