Southern Beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma obsoletum)

Identification & Behavior: ~10 cm (4 in). The Southern Beardless Tyrannulet is variable. Birds in NW Peru and the Marañon Drainage are mostly grayish with dusky wing coverts and two rufous or buffy wing bars (sclateri and maranonicum). Birds in southern Amazonia are Austral migrants and are more similar to those of northwest Peru. Birds in northern Amazonia have olive upperparts, whitish wing bars, and yellow underparts. All forms have a yellow-orange lower mandible. It generally forages in semi-open habitats, second growth, forest edges, and urban areas. It is similar to Gray-and-White Tyrannulet and Mouse-colored Tyrannulet but is distinguished by a bushy crest with no white crown patch, and rufous wing bars.

Status: The Southern Beardless Tyrannulet is common and widespread in the lowlands of NW Peru, the Marañon Drainage, and Amazonia. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Mosquerito Silbador.

Sub-species: Southern Beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma obsoletum sclateri), (Berlepsch and Taczanowski), 1884.  W Ecuador and extreme NW Peru (Tumbes, N Piura).
(Camptostoma obsoletum maranonicum), Carriker, 1933.  N Peru (extreme E Piura, and middle Marañón Valley in Amazonas, E Cajamarca and E Ancash).
(Camptostoma obsoletum olivaceum), (Berlepsch), 1889.  SE Colombia, E Ecuador, NW Peru and W Brazil (W Amazonas).
(Camptostoma obsoletum griseum), Carriker, 1933.  arid Pacific coast and slopes of W Peru (Lambayeque S to Lima).
(Camptostoma obsoletum bolivianum), J. T. Zimmer, 1941.  C Bolivia (E La Paz, Cochabamba) and NW Argentina (S to Tucuman).

Meaning of Name: Camptostoma: Gr. kamptos= curved, to bend and stoma, stomatos= mouth. obsoletum: L. obsoletus= plain, worn out, forgotten.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae