Common tody-flycatcher

Appearance

The common tody-flycatcher is a tiny, big-headed bird, 9.5–10.2 cm long, weighing 6.5–6.8 g, and with a long, flattened, straight black bill. The upper head is black, shading to dark grey on the nape and dark olive-green on the rest of the upperparts. The usually cocked tail is black with white tips, and the wings are blackish with two yellow wing bars and yellow edging to the feathers. The underparts are entirely yellow. Sexes are similar, but young birds have a greyer upper head, buff wing markings, and paler underparts.

Naming

*English: black-fronted tody-flycatcher, common tody-flycatcher
⤷ Spanish: titirijí común, titirijí lomicenizo, espatulilla amarilla, mosquerito común
⤷ Portuguese: ferreirinho, ferreirinho-relógio, reloginho, relógio, sebinho-relógio

Behavior

Males of this species have a rapid grasshopper-like ticking ''te’e’e’e’e’e’t ''call something like a tropical kingbird, and a dawn song consisting of a very fast high ''tic'' repeated up to 110 times a minute for minutes on end.

Habitat

It is a very common inhabitant in gardens, shady plantations, second growth and the edges and clearings of forest, although it avoids the dense interior of mature woodland and also arid areas. The common tody-flycatcher is usually seen in pairs, making rapid dashing sallies or hovering to pick small arthropods off the vegetation. It often wags its tail as it moves sideways along branches.

It breeds from sea level to 1,150 m altitude, locally to 1,500 m. Both male and female birds build a pouch nest with a visored side entrance, which is usually suspended from a thin branch or vine 1–5 m high in a tree, though occasionally it can go up to 30 m. The female incubates the two usually unspotted white eggs for the 15–16 days prior to hatching.