Golden-crowned Flycatcher (Myiodynastes chrysocephalus)

Identification & Behavior: ~21 cm (8.2 in). The Golden-crowned Flycatcher has a greenish-brown mantle and dusky wings with coverts finely edged with rusty. It has a gray crown with a semi-concealed yellow crown patch bordered by a broad white superciliary. It has a gray mask through the eye and a white throat. The underparts are yellow streaked with olive on the breast and upper belly. The tail feathers are also edged with rusty. It forages on the canopy and sub-canopy of humid montane forest. It is more likely to overlap with the Streaked Flycatcher but is distinguished by having a yellow belly.

Status: The Golden-crowned Flycatcher is uncommon in montane forests of the east and west (Piura) slopes of the Andes at elevations ranging between 600-2700 m.It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Mosquero de Corona Dorada.

Sub-species: Golden-crowned Flycatcher (Myiodynastes chrysocephalus minor), Taczanowski and Berlepsch, 1885.   E Panama (Cerro Tacarcuna and Cerro Pirre, in Darién), W & E Colombia (throughout Andes, also La Macarena Mts in S Meta) and Ecuador (S on W slope to Alamor area of W Loja).
(Myiodynastes chrysocephalus chrysocephalus), (Tschudi), 1844.  Peru (C & E Andes from San Martín S to N Puno, also recorded in W Cordillera in Bosque de Cuyas), W Bolivia (La Paz S to Chuquisaca and Tarija) and extreme NW Argentina (N Salta).

Meaning of Name: Myiodynastes: Gr. muia, muias= fly dunastes, dunamai= ruler, to be mighty. chrysocephalus: Gr. khrusos= gold and kephalos= headed.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae