The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher, or gray-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, (''Todirostrum poliocephalum'') 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher was originally described by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in 1831 as ''Todus poliocephalus''. He called it "Der grauköpfige Plattschanbel" which roughly translates to "grey-headed flatbill". It was later moved to genus ''Triccus'' and still later to its current ''

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 ...

''.Patrikeev, M. (2020). Gray-headed Tody-Flycatcher (''Todirostrum poliocephalum''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gyhtof1.01 retrieved February 20, 2025 The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher 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 ...

Description

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher is long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a slate-gray crown and nape, large lemon yellow or sulphur yellow patches on the lores with a black stripe below them, and greenish cheeks. 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 "siskin-green" (Wied's term) or olive. Their wings are black-brown with yellow-green edges on the flight feathers and yellow or olive edges on the coverts; the last 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 dark grayish brown with olive-green edges on the feathers. Their entire underparts are lemon yellow or sulphur yellow. Juveniles have pale yellow lores with a grayish stripe under them and paler yellow underparts than adults. Adults have a yellow-orange iris, a spatula-shaped black-brown bill, and bluish gray legs and feet. Juveniles have a gray-brown iris, a gray bill, and bluish gray legs and feet.

Distribution and habitat

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher is found in southeastern Brazil from southeastern

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

south to far northeastern

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

and inland into

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

and northern

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

. A few are also found in

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

; that population is suspected of originating from escaped or released captive birds. The species primarily inhabits a variety of forest types but is typically found in dense vegetation along the forest edge. It also occurs in somewhat more open areas such as light woodland, gardens, and urban parks. Close to the coast it often is found in humid

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 ...

and forest fragments. Further inland it occurs in

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

forest,

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 also fragmented forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Movement

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher is believed to be a year-round resident.

Feeding

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher feeds on insects, though details are lacking. It typically forages in pairs, though sometimes singly or in small family groups, and 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 sometimes ascends higher. It primarily takes prey from foliage with short upward sallies from a perch.

Breeding

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher breeds in the austral spring and summer, mostly between August and November. Its nest is an oval closed bag with a side entrance described as "compact" unlike the "untidy" nests of some other ''Todirostrum'' species. The female alone is believed to build the nest, using dry leaves, strips of bark, and other plant materials bound with spider web. Nests typically hang from the tip of a branch up to about above the ground, are usually well hidden, and are often suspended over water. The clutch is two or three eggs that are pale salmon with small reddish brown patches. In one nest incubation lasted at least 17 days. The typical incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The yellow-lored tody-flycatcher's song is an "extr. high, weak, 'twit' followed by even higher, energetic 'witwit---' ('wit' 4-6 x)". Other authors have written it as "spit-spit-spit-spit", "cheep, chip-chip", and "teck-teck-k-k-k". Prey capture is accompanied by an audible bill snap.

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 yellow-lored tody-flycatcher 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 occurs in many protected areas. "''Todirostrum poliocephalum'' shows low sensitivity to disturbance, but depends on remaining forest fragments, including selectively logged and secondary forest."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q839184 Birds of the Atlantic Forest Todirostrum Endemic birds of Brazil Birds described in 1831 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot