Dusky-tailed Flatbill (Ramphotrigon fuscicauda)

Identification & Behavior: ~16 cm (6.2 in). The Dusky-tailed Flatbill has an olive mantle and olive-gray head. It has a thin yellowish loral line and broken eyering. The bill is mostly black with yellow near the base of the mandible. The wing coverts are black with two rufous wing bars. The secondary flight feathers are edged with brown. The tail is olive-gray. The throat and breast are olive grading to yellow streaked with olive on the underparts. The center of the belly is plain yellow. It forages in stands of Guadua bamboo in floodplain forests. It is similar to the closely related Large-headed Flatbill but is distinguished by larger size, darker plumage, and throat and breast coarsely streaked with olive. Also, see Rufous-tailed Flatbill.

Status: The Dusky-tailed Flatbill is uncommon and restricted to southeast Peru largely in the departments of Madre de Dios and Ucayali. It is known to range up to 1000 m along the foothill of the Andes. The Dusky-tailed Flatbill also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Pico-Plano de Cola Oscura.

Sub-species: Dusky-tailed Flatbill (Ramphotrigon fuscicauda), Chapman, 1925

Meaning of Name: Ramphotrigon: Gr. rhamphos= bill and trigonon= triangle. fuscicauda: L. fuscus= dusky and cauda= tail.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae