Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant (Phylloscartes ophthalmicus)

Identification & Behavior: ~11.5 cm (4.5 in). The Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant has a greenish-olive mantle. The crown is gray. The forehead, chin, and sides of the head are grizzled. It has a large black ear patch. The bill is blackish. The wing coverts are edged with yellow giving the impression of a patterned wing with thin wing bars. The breast is gray in southern birds (ottonis) or olive-yellow on the underparts in northern birds (ophthalmicus). It forages in the upper understory and sub-canopy of humid montane forests often in the company of mixed species flocks. It is similar to the Slaty-capped flycatcher but is distinguished by smaller size, thinner bill, and by a yellowish edging of the wing coverts between the wing bars. Also, see Ashy-headed Tyrannulet.

Status: The Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant is fairly common in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 750-1800 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Moscareta-Cerdosa de Cara Jasteada.

Sub-species: Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant (Phylloscartes ophthalmicus ophthalmicus), (Taczanowski), 1874.  Andes of Colombia (W & C ranges), NW & E Ecuador and E slope in Peru (S to Ayacucho).
(Phylloscartes ophthalmicus ottonis), (Berlepsch), 1901.  SE Peru (Cuzco, Madre de Dios) S to N Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba, W Santa Cruz).

Meaning of Name: Phylloscartes: Gr. phullon = leaf and skairo= to skip, to dance. ophthalmicus: L. ophthalmos= eye, ophthalmicus= of the eye.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae