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Tyrannidae
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Pseudotriccus
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Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant Pseudotriccus pelzelni Scientific name definitions

John W. Fitzpatrick
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2004

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant is a tiny songbird of Andean forests.  Found in mountains from Panama and Colombia south to Peru, the species prefers undergrowth and forest edge from 700 to 2000 meters in elevation. The Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant is a small but round flycatcher, dark olive above with blackish wings and paler olive underparts with a dull white throat.  Typically found foraging on its own, this flycatcher can be detected by the whirring sound its wings make during its short hover-gleaning foraging bouts in the undergrowth.

Field Identification

11–11·5 cm; 9–11 g. Tiny, dark pygmy-tyrant of subtropical forest undergrowth. Nominate race is entirely dark brownish-olive above, crown slightly darker than back, longer and broader crown feathers forming bushy crest (rarely raised); wings as back, wing-coverts and inner remiges diffusely edged warmer brown; tail as back; chin and throat creamy whitish, breast and flanks olive, belly and undertail-coverts creamy yellow; iris dark red to reddish-brown; bill black; legs grey. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed. Race berlepschi is darker and more brown above, crown blacker, wing-coverts more conspicuously edged rufous-brown, underparts paler yellow, bill larger; annectens is like previous, but back more bronze than dark brownish, crown greener, auriculars and neck brownish with bronzy cast, brighter yellow underparts, yellower cast to olive flanks; peruvianus resembles nominate but more green, less brownish, wing-coverts lack brownish edges.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

May be conspecific with P. simplex. Races berlepschi and annectens intergrade on CW Colombian slopes. Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (POLYTYPIC)

Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant (annectens/berlepschi) Pseudotriccus pelzelni annectens/berlepschi

Pseudotriccus pelzelni berlepschi
P. p. berlepschi
Available illustrations of subspecies in this group
SUBSPECIES

Pseudotriccus pelzelni berlepschi Scientific name definitions

Distribution
E Panama (Cerro Pirre, Cerro Tacarcuna) and NW Colombia (W Andes S to Valle and N part of C Andes).
SUBSPECIES

Pseudotriccus pelzelni annectens Scientific name definitions

Distribution
SW Colombia (S from Cauca) and NW Ecuador (S to El Oro).
EBIRD GROUP (POLYTYPIC)

Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant (pelzelni/peruvianus) Pseudotriccus pelzelni pelzelni/peruvianus

Pseudotriccus pelzelni pelzelni
P. p. pelzelni
Available illustrations of subspecies in this group
SUBSPECIES

Pseudotriccus pelzelni pelzelni Scientific name definitions

Distribution
E Andes of Colombia and E Ecuador.
SUBSPECIES

Pseudotriccus pelzelni peruvianus Scientific name definitions

Distribution
locally in E Andes of Peru (Amazonas S to Cuzco).

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Humid montane forest, cloudforest; 300–2500 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Insects. Forages alone or in pairs, just above ground in dense forest undergrowth, perching on both vertical and horizontal twigs; flies with short bursts from perch to perch (audible whirring wing noise with each flight). Prey captured with short upward strikes; bill snapped audibly as bird strikes leaf and prey.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Not very vocal; makes 4–6 short, wheezy “piff” notes c. 1 second apart, song a thin high-pitched trill; snaps bill repeatedly when alarmed.

Breeding

Birds with enlarged gonads in May in Colombia. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Fairly common to common; often overlooked unless mist-netted. Fairly common on Cerro Pirre and Cerro Tacarcuna (both in Darién), in Panama; occurs also in Tambito Nature Reserve, in Colombia, and Manta Real (designated for protected status), near Guayaquil, in Ecuador. Probably locally extinct in areas where deforestation has been intense, e.g. in Colombian Andes.
Distribution of the Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2020). Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant (Pseudotriccus pelzelni), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.boptyr1.01
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