Crested Becard (Pachyramphus validus)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The male Crested Becard has blackish upperparts and cap. The sides of the neck and underparts are gray (audax) of grayish brown (validus). The female is cinnamon brown with a gray top of the head. The gray does not extend down to the neck and mantle. The immature looks like a female. Immature males have black mottles as they acquire the adult plumage. It forages in the canopy and sub-canopy of montane forest and riparian forest and scrub in inter-Andean valleys, often in pairs. It is similar to the Pink-throated Becard but is distinguished by lacking the pink band on the throat (male). In the female, the gray on top of the head on a female does not extend down to the back of the neck.

Status: The resident sub-species of the Crested Becard is rare in a relatively small region in inter-Andean valleys in southern Peru at elevations ranging between 1700-3400 m. The migratory sub-species (validus) is a rare Austral migrant to the extreme southeast corner of Peru. It also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Cabezón Crestudo.

Sub-species: Crested Becard (Pachyramphus validus validus), (M. H. C. Lichtenstein), 1823. E & S Brazil (Marajó I E to Rio Grande do Norte, S to Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul), E Bolivia (Chiquitos).
(Pachyramphus validus audax), (Cabanis), 1873.extreme SE Ecuador (S Zamora-Chinchipe), SE Peru (both slope of Andes S from Ayacucho and Cuzco), NW, C & S Bolivia (La Paz S to Tarija).

Meaning of Name: Pachyramphus: Gr. pakhus= stout, thick and rhamphos= bill. validus: L. validus= strong, powerful.

See more of the Family Tityridae