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Chlorophonia
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Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia Chlorophonia pyrrhophrys Scientific name definitions

Steven Hilty
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2011

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

Strongly patterned with vivid colors, the Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia is a spectacular little bird of Andean cloud forests. It has a bright green back, throat, wings, and tail contrasting with bright yellow rump and flanks. The middle of the belly is deep chestnut and the cap is bright blue. It occurs in pairs or family groups in the tops of trees, both with and apart from mixed flocks of tanagers and other canopy species. It is found from Venezuela south through the Andes to central Peru.

Field Identification

12 cm; 16–18 g. Short-tailed, short-billed and chunky, with colourful, strongly marked plumage. Male has base of forehead green, rest of crown and nape rich cyanine-blue, narrowly bordered dark red (often looks black) at front and side; narrow nape band paler blue; lores, ocular area, side of head and neck, and throat and chest glistening emerald-green; mantle, back and upperwing-coverts bright green, rump bright yellow; primary coverts and flight-feathers blackish, edged bright green, tertials mainly green; central tail feathers dusky, narrowly edged green, outer feathers with broader green edgings; green of chest bordered below by narrow black line stained with chestnut (this border sometimes partly concealed); underparts bright yellow, median band down breast and belly and entire undertail-coverts deep chestnut (some males have broader band extending almost to sides and flanks, partly obscuring the yellow in this area); iris dark brown; bill blackish, base of lower mandible pale grey; legs dark grey. Female is duller than male, and mainly green; crown and nape turquoise-blue, bordered by narrow chestnut line along front and side of crown, with lowermost forehead, lores, side of head (including ear-coverts) and throat and chest bright green; back and rump green (slightly darker than throat), upperwing-coverts dusky, broadly edged and tinged dark green, flight-feathers blackish, basal two-thirds of feathers edged dark green, tertials mostly green; breast and belly dull yellowish, rather sharply cut off from green of throat and chest. Immature is mostly dull green, with breast and belly yellowish.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Sierra de Perijá (Colombia–Venezuela border), and Andes of W Venezuela (S from Trujillo) S to Colombia (Norte de Santander; locally in W & C ranges), Ecuador (S on W slope to Pichincha, on E slope locally to Loja), and on E slope S to Peru (on Piura–Cajamarca border, and locally from Amazonas S to Huánuco).

Habitat

Humid and wet montane forest, especially heavily epiphyte-laden forest (cloudforest), along forest borders and in older second-growth woodland. Occasionally in stunted forest almost up to tree-line. At 1800–3000 m in Venezuela; 1400–2700 m in Colombia; mostly 1500–2750 m (rarely to 3000 m) in Ecuador; c. 1500–2500 m (most records above 1700 m) in Peru.

Movement

Resident. Perhaps some local movements in response to food abundance; reported as occurring locally or seasonally to as high as 3000 m in Ecuador.

Diet and Foraging

Mostly berries of mistletoe (Loranthaceae), also berries of various species of Ericaceae, and observed to eat fruit of figs (Ficus) in Colombia; occasionally insects. Found mainly in pairs, somewhat less often in families or small groups; much more often independent of mixed-species flocks than with them, and rather infrequently with other birds at fruiting trees. Forages mostly in mossy canopy, often spending long periods of time in large epiphytic clumps and not moving much; occasionally peers at twigs, epiphytes and moss for small insects.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Commonest call a soft, nasal “neck-nuur” repeated over and over, or occasionally 3–4 notes in the series; contact call a nasal, downslurred whistle, “teeeur”, sweet but penetrating in quality and much like that of Euphonia cyanocephala. Song a long, rambling and rather weak series of call notes and various soft, sharp and nasal notes, “tut-tut-tut too-dée too-dée...” or “na-déar, na-déar... to-d’leép”, with variations.

Breeding

Nest-building in Mar in Venezuela. Both sexes observed to bring material, nest apparently a tight, domed structure of tendrils and fibres, with small side entrance, placed in niche c. 6 m up on high wet road bank at forest edge. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Rare to uncommon over most of range. Probably declining. Present in numerous protected areas, including Sierra Nevada National Park (Venezuela), Farallones de Cali National Park and Tambito Nature Reserve (Colombia) and Tingo Maria National Park (Peru). The species’ range also includes intact unprotected montane forest, at least some of which appears to be at relatively low near-term risk. Deforestation and the fragmentation of existing montane forest continue to be the two most pressing problems facing this species.
Distribution of the Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia - Range Map
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  • Migration
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Distribution of the Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Hilty, S. (2020). Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia (Chlorophonia pyrrhophrys), 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.chbchl1.01
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