The variegated bristle tyrant (''Pogonotriccus poecilotis'') is a species of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird in the 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 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Taxonomy and systematics

The variegated bristle tyrant was originally described as ''Leptopogon poecilotis''. It was later moved into genus ''

Pogonotriccus ''Pogonotriccus'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. They are found in wooded habitats of Central America, Central and South America. Taxonomy The genus was erected by the German ornithologists Jean C ...

'', which was still later merged into genus ''

Phylloscartes ''Phylloscartes'' is a genus of small birds in the family Tyrannidae. They are found in wooded habitats of Central America, Central and South America. They mainly feed on small arthropods, and most commonly take part in mixed species flocks. The ...

''. Beginning in 2016 taxonomic systems resurrected ''Pogonotriccus'' for this species and a few others.BirdLife International (2016) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 9. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_90.zip xls zipped 1 MBClements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved June 1, 2023 The variegated bristle tyrant 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 ...

. A proposed subspecies, ''P. p. pifanoi'', has not been accepted by most taxonomists.Schulenberg, T. S., C. O. Gussoni, and G. M. Kirwan (2022). Variegated Bristle-Tyrant (''Pogonotriccus poecilotis''), version 1.2. In Birds of the World (N. D. Sly, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.vabtyr1.01.2 retrieved December 3, 2024

Description

The variegated bristle tyrant is about long; three individuals weighed between . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a slate gray crown. Their lores and narrow

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

are grizzled white. Their ear

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

are grizzled white bisected by a vertical black crescent. Their back and rump are olive green. Their wings are dusky with yellowish edges on the flight feathers. Their wing coverts are dusky with wide tawny buff tips that show as two

wing bar The following is a glossary of common English language terms used in the description of birds—warm-blooded vertebrates of the class Aves and the only living dinosaurs. Birds, who have and the ability to (except for the approximately 60 ext ...

s. Their tail is dusky olive. Their throat is whitish and their breast, flanks, and belly bright yellow with an olive wash on the breast. They have a brown iris, a black

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 ...

, an orange, yellow-orange, or yellow-brown

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 or light brown legs and feet.

Distribution and habitat

The variegated bristle tyrant has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

. It is found in the

Serranía del Perijá The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch ( Cordillera Oriental), in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela, ending further north in the ...

that staddles the Colombia-Venezuela border, locally in the Venezuelan states of Mérida,

Táchira Táchira State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal, Táchira, San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,9 ...

Lara Lara may refer to: People * Lara (name), can be a given name or a surname in several languages * Lara (mythology), a naiad nymph, daughter of the river Almo in Ovid's ''Fasti'' Places *Lara (state), a state in Venezuela * Electoral district ...

, and Barinas, in all three ranges of the

Colombian Andes The Andean region, located in central Colombia, is the most populated natural region of Colombia. With many mountains, the Andes contain most of the country's urban centers.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 ...

, extending to wet

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, ...

in Venezuela. In elevation it ranges between in Venezuela and Colombia, between in Ecuador, and between in Peru.

Behavior

Movement

The variegated bristle tyrant is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The variegated bristle tyrant feeds on insects. It forages in the forest's understory to mid-story, typically perching upright and making short sallies to glean prey from nearby vegetation. It usually forages singly or in pairs and 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

The variegated bristle tyrant's breeding season has not been fully defined but appears to span at least between November and May. Its nest is a globe; one well-described one was made entirely of seed floss from a ''

Spirotheca ''Spirotheca'' is a genus of trees in the Family (biology), family Malvaceae, native to Central America, Central and South America. Species Currently recognized species in ''Spirotheca'' are: * ''Spirotheca awadendron'' * ''Spirotheca elegans' ...

'' tree. It was suspended from overhanging tree roots at the top of an earthen bank. Another nest had a clutch of two nestlings. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The variegated bristle tyrant's song has been described as "a high, sharp note followed by a rising chippering trill: ''tsew! tsi-tree'tee'tee'ti'ti'ti''". Another author described it as "tsit-tsit-tsit-ts-ts-ts-tseweeeét". Its calls include "a high ''tsew''...a high ''tsee-tsee'' and ''tsi'wit''".

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 variegated bristle tyrant as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered locally fairly common in Venezuela, fairly common in Colombia, "scarce" in Ecuador, and "uncommon and perhaps local" in Peru. It "occupies humid montane forest, and so as is true of all species that are restricted to forest, it is vulnerable to habitat degradation or loss".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075154 variegated bristle tyrant Birds of the Northern Andes variegated bristle tyrant variegated bristle tyrant] Taxonomy articles created by Polbot