Crowned Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca frontalis)

Identification & Behavior: ~13 cm (5.1 in). The Crowned Chat-Tyrant has brown upperparts. The wing has either two narrow rufous wing bars (nearly absent in parts of its range) (spodionota) or plain gray without any wing bar (frontalis). The crown is dusky gray bordered by a broad white superciliary. It has bright yellow lores that do not go past the eye. The sides of the head and rest of the underparts are gray with a brown lower belly. The bill is black. It forages in the thick understory of humid montane forests. It is similar to the Jelski’s Chat-Tyrant but their ranges do not overlap. The also similar Golden-browed Chat-Tyrant always has two broad rufous wing bars, has a yellow eye brow that goes beyond the eye, and ranges at lower elevations.

Status: The Crowned Chat-Tyrant is uncommon in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 2800-3700 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Pitajo Coronado.

Sub-species: Crowned Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca frontalis boliviana), Carriker, 1935.  Andes of C & S Peru (San Martín S to Huánuco, and Urubamba Valley in S Cuzco) and Bolivia (E slope from La Paz SE to Santa Cruz).
(Ochthoeca frontalis spodionota), Berlepsch and Stolzmann, 1896.  Junín, W Cuzco (in Cordillera Vilcabamba) and adjoining Ayacucho, in C Peru.

Meaning of Name: Ochthoeca: Gr. okhthos= bank, mound and oikos, oikeo = dwelling, to inhabit.
frontalis: L. frons, frontis= forehead, brow frontalis= fronted, frontal.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae