The long-tailed silky-flycatcher (''Ptiliogonys caudatus'') is a

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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

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 ...

which occurs only in the mountains of

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 Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, usually from 1,850 m altitude to the timberline. It is a thrush-sized species weighing about 37 g. The silky-flycatchers are related to

waxwing The waxwings are three species of passerine birds classified in the genus ''Bombycilla''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestripe, ...

s, and like that group have soft silky plumage. The habitat of this bird is mountain forests, where the breeding pair builds a neat cup of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s or taking small fruits, especially

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

. Long-tailed silky-flycatchers often perch prominently on high exposed twigs. The call of the long-tailed silky-flycatcher is a repeated ''chee-chip''. This species is a host to the biting louse '' Brueelia ptilogonis''.

Gallery

File:Ptilogonys caudatus.jpg, Long-tailed silky-flycatcher in

File:PtilogonysCaudataSmit.jpg, Illustration by Joseph Smit (1869)

References

* Stiles and Skutch, ''A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica''

External links

Image

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075344

long-tailed silky-flycatcher The long-tailed silky-flycatcher (''Ptiliogonys caudatus'') is a passerine bird which occurs only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, usually from 1,850 m altitude to the timberline. It is a thrush-sized species weighing abou ...

Birds of the Talamancan montane forests