Large-headed Flatbill (Ramphotrigon megacephalum)

Identification & Behavior: ~13 cm (5.1 in). The Large-headed Flatbill has yellow-olive back and head. It has a thin yellowish superciliary and a narrow eye-ring of the same color. The bill is black. The wing coverts are black with two yellow-olive wing bars. The breast is yellow-olive faintly streaked with olive. The rest of the underparts are yellowish with blurry olive streaks. It forages almost exclusively in stands of Guadua bamboo in floodplain forests. It is similar to the closely related Dusky-tailed Flatbill but is distinguished by smaller size, lighter plumage, and yellow underparts with only some blurry streaks on the breast.

Status: The Large-headed Flatbill is fairly common and restricted to southeast Peru largely in the department of Madre de Dios and Ucayali. It is known to range up to 1200 m along the foothill of the Andes. The Large-headed Flatbill also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Pico-Plano Cabezón.

Sub-species: Large-headed Flatbill (Ramphotrigon megacephalum bolivianum), J. T. Zimmer, 1939.

Meaning of Name: Ramphotrigon: Gr. rhamphos= bill and trigonon= triangle. megacephalum: Gr. megas= great and kephalos, kephale= headed, head.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae