Amazonian Scrub Flycatcher

Appearance

The Amazonian scrub flycatcher is 14 to 15 cm long and weighs 14.5 to 17 g. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark grayish brown crown that sometimes erects as a shaggy crest. Their face is mostly whitish to pale gray with a faint pale supercilium, a dark line through the eye, and a darker gray to the back of the ear coverts. Their back and rump are dark grayish brown. Their wings are dusky gray with paler grayish to whitish edges on the flight feathers and tips of the wing coverts; the latter show as two wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their chin, throat and upper breast are dark dusky gray and their belly dingy yellow with no sharp demarcation between the colors. They have a dark brown iris, a stubby black bill, and gray legs and feet.

Distribution

The Amazonian scrub flycatcher is primarily a bird of the Amazon Basin whose range extends slightly into the upper reaches of the Orinoco River basin. It is found from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and Peru into northern Bolivia and east from there through southern Venezuela, the Guianas, and Amazonian Brazil to the Atlantic. Its southernmost extent in Brazil is northern Mato Grosso.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the Amazonian scrub flycatcher as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range; its population size is not known but is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered very local in Colombia, uncommon in Venezuela, rare and local in Ecuador, and local in Peru. Several field guides suggest it is easily overlooked. It occurs in at least one protected area in each of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. It "[h]as probably increased, and will continue to do so, with degradation of primary forest; elevational range may increase with degradation at base of [eastern] Andes".

Habitat

It inhabits clearings and edges of dryish forest and woodlands and also occurs along watercourses in more open savanna. It favors low shrubby vegetation in all landscapes, and typically is found in dryer habitats than the other two scrub flycatchers. In elevation it occurs from sea level to about 450 m in the Guianas and Brazil and up to 500 m in Colombia, 900 m in Ecuador, 1,000 m in Peru, and 460 m in Venezuela.

Reproduction

The Amazonian scrub flycatcher's breeding season has not been detailed but appears to include July in Ecuador and March in Guyana. Its nest is a cup built in a branch fork, typically up to about 8 m above the ground. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Food

The Amazonian scrub flycatcher feeds on arthropods and small fruits. It forages low down in shrubs and small trees. It sits erect on a perch with its tail straight down and mostly hover-gleans or snatches fruit and insects from leaves in short sallies from it; it also takes some prey in mid-air. It is not known to follow mixed-species feeding flocks.