The grey-headed piprites (''Piprites griseiceps'') 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 ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Pipritinae of family

Tyrannidae The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a Family (biology), family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North America, North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is ...

, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

.Snow, D. (2020). Gray-headed Piprites (''Piprites griseiceps''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grhpip1.01 retrieved September 17, 2024 Prior to genetic studies in 2009, it was placed in the family Pipritinae with the manakins.

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-headed piprites is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. It shares genus ''Piprites'' with the

wing-barred piprites The wing-barred piprites (''Piprites chloris'') is a species of bird in subfamily Pipritinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. Taxonomy and systematics ...

(''P. chloris'') and the

black-capped piprites The black-capped piprites (''Piprites pileata''), also known as the black-capped manakin, bailarín castaño, or piprites capirotado, is a species of suboscine passerine. It has been placed in the genus ''Piprites'', part of the Tyrannidae fami ...

(''P. pileata''). The grey-headed and wing-barred piprites form a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. Genetically, it is particularly close to the wing-barred piprites.

Description

The grey-headed piprites is long and weighs about . It is considered as having an especially long tail among similar species. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a slate-gray head with a bold white eyering. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive-green with yellow-green edges on their flight feathers. Their underparts are yellowish olive that is lightest on their throat and belly. They have a dark iris, a blackish

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

, a paler

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

, and gray legs and feet.

Distribution and habitat

The grey-headed piprites is found on the Caribbean slope of Central America from far eastern Guatemala through Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica to

Bocas del Toro Province Bocas del Toro (; meaning "Mouths of the Bull") is a Provinces of Panama, province of Panama. Its area is 4,643.9 square kilometers, comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Bahía Al ...

in far western Panama. It inhabits wet

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

and mature

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. In elevation it mostly occurs from sea level to though it reaches in Honduras and in Costa Rica.

Behavior

Movement

The grey-headed piprites is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The grey-headed piprites forages mostly in the forest's middle level. It feeds on small fruits and insects that it takes with a sally from a perch. It often joins

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

Breeding

Nothing is known about the grey-headed piprites' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The grey-headed piprites' song is "an undulating two-second phrase of quick, sputtering notes". One call is "a liquid ''whit!''". Another is "a soft, liquid, rolling 'purrr'".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the grey-headed piprites as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is overall considered uncommon to rare, and there are especially few records of it in the northernmost and southernmost reaches of its range, with only one sighting in Guatemala. It has been noted in Honduras and Costa Rica, and it occurs in two protected areas in Costa Rica.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q916799 grey-headed piprites Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica grey-headed piprites grey-headed piprites Taxonomy articles created by Polbot