Appearance
The spectacled tyrannulet is about 11.5 to 12.5 cm long and weighs about 11 g. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark grayish green crown. They have a yellow-tinged white forehead, loral streak, and arcs above and below the eye that give it its common name. Their upperparts are green. Their wings are mostly dusky; the coverts and flight feathers have thin yellow edges. Their tail is rather long compared to those of other flycatchers; it is dark gray with yellow edges on the feathers. Their throat is whitish yellow and the rest of their underparts somewhat yellower. Subspecies "Z. i. tamae" has pure white lores and eye arcs. They have a darker and more dusky crown, a grayer breast, and paler yellow abdomen and undertail coverts than the nominate. Adults of both subspecies have a dark brown iris, a short, narrow black bill, and longish black legs and feet. Immature birds have duller and somewhat darker colors on their face and upperparts than adults, and their legs and feet are gray.Distribution
The spectacled tyrannulet has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies has one population in northern Colombia's Norte de Santander Department and another in the Andes of northwestern Venezuela between Táchira and Trujillo states. Subspecies "Z. i. tamae" also has multiple populations. One is in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia, a second in the Serranía del Perijá on the Colombia-Venezuela border, and a third in the Páramo de Tamá in Táchira.Status
The IUCN has assessed the spectacled tyrannulet as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered fairly common in Colombia and common in Venezuela. It occurs "in a wide variety of habitats, including highly modified habitats around farms and towns, and is expected to be stable in human-modified areas".Habitat
The species inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane forest, more open forest and woodlands, and forest openings with scattered trees. In elevation it ranges from 1,500 to 2,400 m in Colombia, 1,800 to 3,000 m on the Venezuelan side of the Serranía del Perijá, and 800 to 3,000 m in the Venezuelan Andes.Reproduction
The spectacled tyrannulet's breeding season has not been detailed but appears to span as much as March to November in the Colombian part of the Serranía del Perijá. It makes a oval or dome-shaped nest with a side entrance, typically within a hanging clump of moss. The clutch size is two eggs. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.Food
The spectacled tyrannulet's diet has not been detailed but is known to include insects and fruits. Other species in genus "Zimmerius" rely heavily on mistletoe fruits but it is not known how important they are to this species. It is an active forager, working singly or in pairs, at all levels of the forest but mostly from the forest mid-story to the canopy. It takes food by gleaning while perched and while briefly hovering after a short flight; it less frequently sallies to take insects in mid-air. It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks.References:
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