The white-lored gnatcatcher (''Polioptila albiloris'') 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 Polioptilidae. It is found 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 ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-lored gnatcatcher was previously considered conspecific with the

black-capped gnatcatcher The black-capped gnatcatcher (''Polioptila nigriceps'') is a small songbird in the family Polioptilidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States. Taxonomy and systematics The black-capped gnatcatcher has at times been treated as conspec ...

(''Polioptila nigriceps''). The

Yucatan gnatcatcher The Yucatan gnatcatcher (''Polioptila albiventris'') is a species of bird in the family Polioptilidae. It is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Taxonomy and systematics The Yucatan gnatcatcher is monotypic. "The continually chang ...

(''P. albiventris'') was previously a treated as a subspecies of the white-lored.Atwood, J. L., S. B. Lerman, and A. J. Spencer (2020). White-lored Gnatcatcher (''Polioptila albiloris''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whlgna2.01.1 retrieved May 28, 2021 The white-lored gnatcatcher has two subspecies, the nominate ''Polioptila albiloris albiloris'' and ''P. a. vanrossemi''.

Description

The white-lored gnatcatcher is long and weighs . The nominate male in breeding plumage has a black cap down to the eyes and including the nape. The rest of the upperparts are bluish gray. The tail is black with white outermost feathers. The throat is white becoming pale bluish gray on the breast and flanks. The female has a dark gray cap and the eponymous white lores and

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

. The juvenile is similar to the female but has browner upperparts. The male ''P. a. vanrossemi'' has a larger black cap and longer wings and tail than the nominate.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate white-lored gnatcatcher is found from central Guatemala south through Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua into northwestern Costa Rica. ''P. a. vanrossemi'' is found in Mexico from the southern parts of the states of Michoacán, México, and

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

south to most of

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

. It inhabits arid to semi-arid biomes including scrublands, thorn forest, deciduous woodland, and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It shuns the interior of tall woodlands. It is mostly found below of elevation.

Behavior

Feeding

The white-lored gnatcatcher's diet is a variety of adult insects, caterpillars, and spiders. It forages mostly by gleaning but will make sallies to catch flying insects.

Breeding

The white-lored gnatcatcher breeds between March and August. Both sexes build the nest, a deep cup of grass and roots held together with spider silk and lined with fine grass, hair, and other soft materials. The clutch size is four. Bronzed (''Molothrus aeneus'') and brown-headed cowbirds (''M. ater'') parasitize the nest.

Vocalization

The white-lored gnatcatcher has two songs, a "simple

and a "complex

It also has a variety of calls, for which see Xeno-canto below.

Status

The

IUCN 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 assessed the white-lored gnatcatcher as being of Least Concern. "Neither of the subspecies are restricted to ecoregions that are considered to be at serious risk".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q901087 white-lored gnatcatcher Birds of Mexico Birds of Guatemala Birds of El Salvador Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica white-lored gnatcatcher white-lored gnatcatcher white-lored gnatcatcher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot