The grey-crowned flatbill or grey-crowned flycatcher (''Tolmomyias poliocephalus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Tyrannidae The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most dive ...

. It is found in humid forest in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It closely resembles the yellow-margined and

yellow-olive flatbill The yellow-olive flatbill or yellow-olive flycatcher (''Tolmomyias sulphurescens'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is found in tropical and subtopical forest and woodland in Central and South America, but over its range there a ...

s, but its lower mandible is dark with a pale base. It is a fairly common bird with a wide range and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has rated it as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

Tolmomyias ''Tolmomyias'' is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is one of the two genera containing the "flatbills"; the other is ''Rhynchocyclus''. The genus was erected by the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard He ...

'' flatbills are robust small birds with broad beaks. The grey-crowned flatbill is about long and has a generally yellowish-green plumage, a grey cap and nape, and a yellowish throat marked with grey. The iris is usually a pale colour and the mandible has a dark tip. Several species of flatbill overlap in their range and are easily confused with each other visually, but their songs are mostly distinctive. The grey-crowned flatbill's song is a series of whistles rising in pitch with the final whistle trembling – "tuee? tuee? TUEE? tuEEuEE? tuEEuEE?". The only other similar song in the genus is that of the

yellow-margined flatbill The yellow-margined flatbill or Zimmer's flatbill (''Tolmomyias assimilis'') is a species of bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is found in humid forest in southern Central America, and the Chocó and Amazon in South America. ...

(''Tolmomyias assimilis'') which has a more rasping quality; flatbills in this genus are difficult to tell apart and the voice is usually the best means of recognition. The stance of this species is more horizontal than other members of the genus, and it sometimes cocks its tail.

Distribution and habitat

The grey-crowned flatbill is native to the Amazon region of South America. Its range includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Its maximum altitudinal range extends to or locally higher. It generally inhabits the middle and upper canopy of the rainforest as well as forest edges, river valleys and tall secondary forest growth. The nest is shaped like a bag and has a tubular entrance near the base; it is often hung near a wasp nest.

Status

The grey-crowned flatbill has a very wide range in the Amazon rainforest and on the lower slopes on the eastern side of the Andes. It is said to be a fairly common species and its population trend may be declining slightly but not at a rate that would cause concern, and the

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the grey-crowned flatbill
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1270575 grey-crowned flatbill Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of the Guianas Birds of the Atlantic Forest grey-crowned flatbill Birds of Brazil Taxonomy articles created by Polbot