Lulu's tody-flycatcher (''Poecilotriccus luluae''), also known as Johnson's tody-flycatcher, 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 ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

of Lulu's tody-flycatcher was collected in 1970. By the early 1980s enough additional specimens had been collected for the initial collectors to formally describe the new species. They named it "Lulu's Tody-Tyrant"; this English name and the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''luluae'' honor Lulu May Von Hagen "in recognition of her generous and dedicated support of research in avian genetics". Two years after Ned Johnson and Robert Jones described the species, Johnson died. The South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

almost immediately proposed and accepted changing the English name to "Johnson's Tody-Tyrant". The

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

also accepted the name change.Clements, 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 However, as of late 2024 the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

'' retain "Lulu's".HBW and BirdLife International (2024). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 9. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v9_Oct24.zip retrieved December 23, 2024 By the time of the English name change, genus ''Poecilotriccus'' had species called both "tody-tyrant" and "tody-flycatcher", so in 2008 taxonomic systems began renaming the "tyrants" to "flycatcher".BirdLife International (2009) The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world, with conservation status and taxonomic sources. Version 2. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/downloads/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_2.zip xls zipped 1 MB Lulu's 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

Lulu's tody-flycatcher is about long and weighs about . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly pale rufous or cinnamon head and throat with a gray band across the nape that thins as it passes forward under the ear

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 ...

. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are yellowish olive green. Their wings are black with yellow or yellowish olive green edges on the flight feathers and buff or buff yellow tips on the

; the latter show as two thin

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 chin is white and their throat pale rufous or cinnamon with a thin white band below it. Their breast is yellowish olive green and the rest of their underparts are orange yellow or yellow ochre. They have a brown or dark brown iris, a black bill, and legs and feet whose color can be any of several shades of gray.Schulenberg, T. S. (2020). Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher (''Poecilotriccus luluae''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.johtot1.01

Distribution and habitat

Lulu's tody-flycatcher is found in northern Peru, south of the

Marañón River The Marañón River (, , ) is the principal or mainstem source of the Amazon River, arising about 160 km (100 miles) to the northeast of Lima, Peru, and flowing northwest across plateaus 3,650 m (12,000 feet) high, it runs through a deeply ero ...

in southern Amazonas and western San Martín departments. It primarily inhabits the understory of humid

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

, where it heavily favors thickets of bamboo, but is also found in

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 ...

. In elevation it ranges between .

Behavior

Movement

Lulu's tody-flycatcher is a year-round resident.

Feeding

Lulu's tody-flycatcher feeds on insects, though details of its diet are lacking. It forages mostly in pairs and only briefly 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 that pass nearby. It forages mostly between about above the ground. It takes prey with short upward sallies from a perch to grab it from leaves, small branches, and bamboo stalks. It also takes prey by gleaning while perched.

Breeding

Beyond that a Lulu's tody-flycatcher was seen carrying nesting material in December, nothing is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The song of Lulu's tody-flycatcher is "a descending, whinnying chatter: ''djee-djee'trrrrr''" and its calls are "a rising, staccato rattle: ''trr'rr'rr''; also a quiet, froglike ''prrp''".

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 ...

originally in 2004 assessed Lulu's tody-flycatcher as Vulnerable, then in 2012 as Endangered, and since February 2024 as being of Least Concern. It has a limited range and its estimated population of between 2500 and 10,000 mature individuals is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. Authors have variously considered it uncommon, uncommon and local, and locally fairly common. "Deforestation in the Andes of northern Peru unquestionably is a serious problem. At least in the short term, however, Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher may benefit from deforestation, since this species readily occupies second growth and bamboo at forest edge."

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1263879 Lulu's tody-flycatcher Birds of the Peruvian Andes Endemic birds of Peru Lulu's tody-flycatcher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot