Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis)

Identification & Behavior: ~13.5 cm (5.3 in). The male Masked Yellowthroat is greenish olive above with a gray crown and black lores and a mask through the eyes. The extent of the mask varies with subspecies. The female is greenish olive above without the black lores and mask. Both sexes have a yellowish lower mandible and legs. Also, see Two-banded Warbler.

Status: The Masked Yellowthroat if fairly common to uncommon in the Marañon Drainage and intermontane valleys at elevations of up to 2700 m. It is uncommon in coastal scrub and edges of woodlands on the west side of the Andes. The Masked Yellowthroat also occurs along the foothill of the Andes in the southeast, but could only be as an Austral migrant. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Reinita Equinoccial.

Sub-species: Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis auricularis), Salvin, 1883. Pacific slope of W Ecuador and NW Peru.
(G. a.peruviana )Taczanowski, 1884. Upper Marañón Valley, in NW Peru (probably also in adjacent SE Ecuador).
(G. a. velata) (Vieillot), 1809. SE Peru, N Bolivia and extreme S Amazonian Brazil S.

Meaning of Name: Geothlypis: Gr. Geō, gē= ground, earth and thlupis= unknown small bird, perhaps some sort of finch or warbler. aequinoctialis: L. aequinoctialis, equinoctial= equatorial.

See more of the Family Parulidae