The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher, or slate-headed tody-flycatcherClements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 23, 2024, (''Poecilotriccus sylvia'') 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

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

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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 ...

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 ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

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, ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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 ...

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 ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and possibly

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

.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 30 January 2025. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved 31 January 2025

Taxonomy and systematics

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher was originally described in 1806 as ''Todus Sylvia''. It was later moved to genus ''

Todirostrum ''Todirostrum'' is a genus of Neotropical birds in the New World flycatcher family (biology), family Tyrannidae. Taxonomy and species list The genus ''Todirostrum'' was erected in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson. The type species was ...

''. Following a 1988 publication, taxonomic systems moved ''sylvia'' and several other species from ''Todirostrum'' to genus ''

Poecilotriccus ''Poecilotriccus'' is a genus of small Tyrant flycatcher, flycatchers in the family Tyrannidae. Except for the recently described Johnson's tody-flycatcher, all have, at one point or another, been included in the genus ''Todirostrum''. Some speci ...

''. By the early twenty-first century genus ''Poecilotriccus'' had species called both "tody-tyrant" and "tody-flycatcher" so taxonomic systems began renaming the "tyrants" to "flycatcher".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 30 January 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 31 January 2025 The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher shares genus ''Poecilotriccus'' with 11 other species. The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher has these five subspecies: *''P. s. schistaceiceps'' (

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 ...

, PL, 1859) *''P. s. superciliaris'' (

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, 1871) *''P. s. griseolus'' (

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places Australia * Todd River, an ephemeral river United States * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated c ...

, 1913) *''P. s. sylvia'' ( Desmarest, 1806) *''P. s. schulzi'' ( Berlepsch, 1907) Subspecies ''P. s. schistaceiceps'' was originally described as a full species and at least one twentieth century author retained that treatment.

Description

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher is about long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

''P. s. sylvia'' have a gray crown and nape. Their lores are gray; they have a white line above the lores and a broken white

eye-ring The eye-ring of a bird is a ring of tiny feathers that surrounds the orbital ring, a ring of bare skin immediately surrounding a bird's eye. The eye-ring is often decorative, and its colour may contrast with adjoining plumage. The ring of feather ...

on an otherwise gray face. Their back, rump, and uppertail

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 olive. Their wings are blackish with narrow yellowish edges on the inner flight feathers and large yellow tips on the

; the latter 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 olive. Their throat and underparts are grayish white with grayish streaks on the lower throat and breast and an olive tinge on the flanks. Juveniles have an olive crown and back, buffy wing bars, and paler, grayer, unstreaked underparts.Walther, B. (2020). Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher (''Poecilotriccus sylvia''), 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.shtfly1.01 retrieved February 17, 2025 The other subspecies of the slaty-headed tody-flycatcher differ from the nominate and each other thus: *''P. s. schistaceiceps'': pale yellow sides, flanks, and crissum, unstreaked underparts, and a highly variable iris color from pale yellow to reddish brown *''P. s. superciliaris'': somewhat darker than nominate *''P. s. griseolus'': somewhat darker than nominate with more gray on the lower throat and breast *''P. s. schulzi'': darker than nominate with much grayer breast and deeper ochraceous wing bars. All subspecies usually have a dark brown iris, though it is sometimes pale yellow, gray, or white. They have a black bill and light bluish gray legs and feet.

Distribution and habitat

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher has a highly

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 ...

. The subspecies are found thus: *''P. s. schistaceiceps'': from southern

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

and northern

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

in southern Mexico south on the Gulf/Caribbean slope through Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras and on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes through Nicaragua and Costa Rica into Panama to the

Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending on each side o ...

*''P. s. superciliaris'': Colombia on Caribbean coast, valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers, the middle of the Dagua River valley, and on the eastern slope of the Eastern Andes south to

Meta Department Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known ...

*''P. s. griseolus'': extreme eastern Colombia and across most of northern Venezuela *''P. s. sylvia'': from northeastern

Roraima Roraima ( ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas t ...

state in northern Brazil through southwestern Guyana; possibly in French Guiana (see below) *''P. s. schulzi'': northeastern Brazil from eastern

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

east to

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

Most sources include French Guiana in the slaty-headed tody-flycatcher's range (Clements and Hilty say "the Guianas"). However, the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

has no records of the species in that country. The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher inhabits dense scrubby vegetation in a variety of landscapes in the tropical and lower subtropical zones. These include the edges of

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 ...

both natural and along roads,

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 ...

, overgrown clearings and pastures,

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, and somewhat open woodlands. In elevation it mostly ranges from sea level to overall though only to about in Costa Rica and Venezuela. It reaches in Colombia.

Behavior

Movement

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher is believed to be a year-round resident.

Feeding

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher feeds mostly on

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s and also includes fruit in its diet. It typically forages in pairs and only rarely 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 ...

s. It mostly forages in dense vegetation near the ground but will occasionally hunt in the forest canopy. It primarily takes prey from foliage with short sallies from a perch.

Breeding

The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher's breeding season has not been fully defined. Overall it appears to span from January to August with much geographic variation. Its nest is pear-shaped with a side entrance made from moss, grass, and other plant fibers. It is usually suspended from the tip of a branch with some cover above it up to about above the ground. The typical clutch is two eggs that are creamy white with brown spots. Fledging occurs about 18 to 21 days after hatch. The incubation period and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

According to Hilty, the slaty-headed tody-flycatcher's vocalizations are "insect- or froglike". They include "a soft, gravelly ''trup'' or ''trup grrrr'', varying to ''tik trrrrrrr''; nasal froglike ''grrrrrrr'' also given singly. When excited ''tíc-a-turrr''". Fagan similarly describes one call as "a 2-part ''tip!-purrrrrrrr''".

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 slaty-headed tody-flycatcher as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its estimated population of at least 500,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon to fairly common in northern Central America, "relatively common only in wet southern Pacific" part of Costa Rica, common in Colombia, and locally common in Venezuela. It occurs in many protected areas both public and private. "Tolerant of converted habitat; probably benefits from deforestation if forest subsequently allowed to regenerate."