Handsome Flycatcher (Nephelomyias pulcher)

Identification & Behavior: ~10.5 cm (4.1 in). The Handsome Flycatcher has olive back and gray-olive crown with a semi-concealed rufous crown patch. The wing coverts are black with two broad creamy or rufous wing bars. The bill is bicolored. The iris is dark. The sides of the head and underparts are ochraceous with a tawny breast. It forages in the midstory of humid montane forest where often join mixed-species flocks. It is similar to the Orange-banded Flycatcher and the Ochraceous-breasted Flycatcher but is distinguished by smaller size, by foraging in the interior of the forest, and by a bicolored bill.

Status: The Handsome Flycatcher is uncommon to rare in two disjunct populations in montane forests of extreme northern and southern east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1500-2600 m. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Mosquerito Hermoso.

Sub-species: Handsome Flycatcher (Nephelomyias pulcher oblitus), (J. Bond), 1943.

Meaning of Name: Nephelomyias: Gr. nephele= cloud and myias= flycatcher. pulcher: L. pulcher, pulchra= beautiful, handsome, bright, shining.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae