The black-billed peppershrike (''Cyclarhis nigrirostris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Vireonidae The vireos make up a family (biology), family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and Southeast Asia. The family contains 62 species and is d ...

. It is found in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and northern

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. It inhabits subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s and heavily degraded former forest.

Description

Olive coloured overall with grey throat, belly, cheek and forecrown and a rufous stripe above the eye and lore. Differs from the more common

Rufous-browed peppershrike The rufous-browed peppershrike (''Cyclarhis gujanensis'') is a passerine bird in the vireo family. It is widespread and often common in woodland, forest edge, and cultivation with some tall trees from Mexico and Trinidad south to Argentina and U ...

by its black-tipped bill, thinner rufous superciliary stripe, and olive neck and cap.

Taxonomy

The black-billed peppershrike was described by

Frédéric de Lafresnaye Baron Nöel Frédéric Armand André de Lafresnaye (24 July 1783 – 14 July 1861) was a French ornithologist and collector. Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy. He took an early in ...

in 1842 as ''Cyclaris nigrirostris'' (''sic'') from a specimen collected in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. There are two recognised subspecies: * ''Cyclaris nigrirostris nigrirostris'' Lafresnaye, 1842 – Colombia west of the East Andes as well as in Ecuador * ''Cyclaris nigrirostric atrirostris''

Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society ...

, 1887 – West Andes of southern Colombia, further south into

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

, Ecuador

Distribution

The black-billed peppershrike is found in the

and

Behaviour

Its diet consists entirely of arthropods which it searches for in the canopy and mid-levels of trees. Found alone or alongside its mate. Little is known about its nesting habits but they are assumed to be similar to the

which has been observed nesting in trees seven feet from the ground, with nests constructed out of moss.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1588839 black-billed peppershrike Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes black-billed peppershrike Taxonomy articles created by Polbot