The black-faced solitaire (''Myadestes melanops'') is a bird in the thrush family endemic to highlands in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and western Panama. This is a bird of dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps in wet mountain forest, normally from altitude. It disperses as low as in the wet season, when it may form loose flocks. It builds a cup nest of mosses and liverworts in a tree crevice, hole in a mossy bank, or concealed amongst mosses and

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

s in a tree fork up to above the ground. The female lays two or three rufous-brown marked white or pinkish eggs between April and June. The fledging period is 15–16 days. The black-faced solitaire is a slim thrush, long, and weighing on average. The adult is slate gray with a black face and chin which contrast with the broad orange bill. The wings and tail are slate-edged black, and the underwing coverts are silvery-white, a feature which shows well in flight. The legs are orange. The juvenile has buff streaks on the head and upper parts, and buff and brown mottling on the underparts. The black-faced solitaire usually forages low in vegetation, mainly for berries, but also insects. It will ascend into the canopy or emerge into trees in pasture in its search for food. The call is a nasal ''ghank'' or liquid ''quirt'', and the song is a beautiful fluty whistled ''teedleedlee…tleedleeee…lee-dah…lee-dah'' given mainly in the evening from a shady canopy perch. While the extremely slow song is of a wonderfully pure, ethereal color in nature, when held in a cage the sound leads to it commonly being called "squeaky hinge bird". The black-faced solitaire remains common in protected and inaccessible areas, but trapping of this prized songster for the cage-bird trade has badly affected its numbers elsewhere.

References

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External links

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Sound recordings of Black-faced solitaires at BioAcoustica
{{Taxonbar, from=Q665488

black-faced solitaire The black-faced solitaire (''Myadestes melanops'') is a bird in the Thrush (bird), thrush family endemic to highlands in Costa Rica and western Panama. This is a bird of dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps in wet mountain forest, normally from ...

Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama