Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Tyrannidae
Genus
Phyllomyias
Surprise Me
Previous Yungas Tyrannulet
Next Black-capped Tyrannulet
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
© Fredy Gómez
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
+3
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (caucae)
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
Watch
- Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
Listen

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet Phyllomyias griseiceps Scientific name definitions

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

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

The Sooty-headed Tyrannulet is a tiny, unassuming flycatcher of northern South America and Panama.  Found from Panama south to lowlands in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil, the species inhabits edge habitats and clearings in humid areas below 1800 meters in elevation.  It is olive above with indistinct pale edging on the wings, a sooty crown with white supercilium, grayish face, white throat, and pale yellowish underparts.  The species is more distinctive vocally, as it gives calls that are rolling and snappy; however this uncommon species is encountered infrequently.

Field Identification

10 cm; 8 g. A tiny, dull tyrannulet often showing slightly bushy crest. Plumage is dull greyish-olive above, darker greyish to blackish on crown, crown feathers of many individuals slightly elongated to form ill-defined crest; loral spot and narrow supercilium white, face grizzled whitish, narrow dark grey spot behind eye; wings dusky, indistinct narrow whitish edgings of wing-coverts and inner remiges (no wingbars); tail dusky; throat greyish-white, breast and flanks pale olive, grading to bright yellow on belly; iris dark brown; bill very small and rounded, black; legs black. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed.

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.

Proposed races cristatus (Panama, N Colombia, N Venezuela), caucae (middle and upper Cauca Valley, in Colombia) and pallidiceps (SE Venezuela, S Guyana, N Amazonian Brazil, E Peru), described on basis of differences in length and colour of crown feathers and in wing length; variation in these characters at least as great among individuals from same regions as it is across huge geographical areas. Monotypic.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (griseiceps) Phyllomyias griseiceps griseiceps Scientific name definitions

Distribution

western Ecuador (Esmeraldas south to El Oro and western Loja)
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (cristatus) Phyllomyias griseiceps cristatus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

eastern Panama (Darién) and northwestern Colombia (northwestern Chocó); patchily in northern Colombia (Santa Marta region south to the upper Magdalena Valley) east to northern Venezuela (Zulia and northern Táchira to Sucre and Monagas)
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (caucae) Phyllomyias griseiceps caucae Scientific name definitions

Distribution

west central Colombia (upper Cauca Valley)
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (pallidiceps) Phyllomyias griseiceps pallidiceps Scientific name definitions

Distribution

southeastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and locally in northern Brazil; eastern Ecuador south to southern Peru

Distribution

Locally in E Panama, N, WC & SW Colombia, N & E Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname (1), French Guiana (2), W & E Ecuador, E Peru (S to Ayacucho and N Cuzco (3) ), and N Brazil (left bank of lower R Amazon).

Habitat

Humid tropical and upper tropical evergreen forest regions, occurring mainly in forest borders, clearings with scattered trees, partially cleared landscapes, also dry white-sand forests, plantations, even dry woodlots; generally not in primary forest. Mostly below 1200 m, occasionally to 1800 m; in lowlands, to 460 m, in E Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Insects; also small fruits and berries. Forages in middle and upper canopy, usually alone except when visiting fruiting trees; occasionally with mixed-species flocks. Flits actively while perch-gleaning and making short upward sallies to hover-glean from leaves.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song, often from exposed perch, an emphatic phrase of clear, short whistled notes, first one stressed, “whip, whip-di-irip” or “whit, whit-wheeu”; song may vary somewhat geographically, in Bolivia said to end with a rolling, descending trill.

Breeding

Nest found in Feb in NW Ecuador, a small cup covered with lichen, in crotch of small branch 13 m above ground. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Rare to locally common, but probably often overlooked. Numerous in Tayrona National Park, in Colombia, and Río Palenque Science Centre and Tinalandia Private Reserve, both in NW Ecuador; occurs also in several other protected areas, including, among others, Darién National Park, in Panama, and Northwest Peru Biosphere Reserve, in Peru. Because of its relatively large range and tolerance of converted habitat, this species is not considered to be at any risk.
Distribution of the Sooty-headed Tyrannulet - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Sooty-headed Tyrannulet

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2020). Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias griseiceps), 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.sohtyr1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos