Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant (Phylloscartes orbitalis)

Identification & Behavior: ~11 cm (4.3 in). The Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant has a greenish-olive mantle. The crown and nape are gray. It has an ill-defined ear patch and a pale eye-ring. The bill is bicolored having a flesh-colored mandible. The wing coverts are black with two yellowish wing bars. The breast is olive-gray grading to more yellowish towards the rest of the underparts. It forages in the upper understory and sub-canopy of humid montane forest. It is similar to the Mottle-chekeed Tyrannulet but is distinguished by more upright posture without the tail semi-cocked and wings below the tail, a pale eye-ring, and by lacking the black stripe across the eye. Also, see Slaty-capped Flycatcher.

Status: The Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant is uncommon in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 500-1400 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Moscareta-Cerdosa de Anteojos.

Sub-species: Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant (Phylloscartes orbitalis), (Cabanis), 1873.

Meaning of Name: Phylloscartes: Gr. phullon = leaf and skairo= to skip, to dance. orbitalis: L. orbis= ring, eye, orbitalis= of the eye.

See more of the Family Tyrannidae