Urich's Tyrannulet Phyllomyias urichi Scientific name definitions

This poorly known tyrant flycatcher was long considered a subspecies of the Atlantic Forest endemic Greenish Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias virescens). The Urich’s Tyrannulet  is restricted to a small area of the montane northeast of Venezuela, where it is principally recorded between 800 m and 1100 m. This tyrannulet is a small, predominantly green-and-yellow bird, with a contrasting gray crown, a short white supraloral stripe and eye-ring, two whitish wingbars, and pale yellow underparts. It is not been subject to detailed studies, and there are apparently few recent sightings, which has led BirdLife International to list the Urich’s Tyrannulet as globally Endangered, especially given that forest clearance for agricultural needs has been comparatively widespread within this bird’s highly restricted range.

NE Venezuela in mountains in NE Anzoátegui, Sucre (including Paria Peninsula) and N Monagas.

ENDANGERED. Rare and almost unknown in life. Specimens from four sites in Macizo de Turimiquire, and a few recent observations, all near Caripe; a 1993 sight record from Cerro Humo, would extend range to Paria Peninsula. Range very small, c. 1100 km², and global population estimated at a few thousand individuals. Occurs within El Guácharo National Park (IUCN Cat. II; 627 km²), recently expanded to include a further 500 km² of largely undisturbed forest. However, legal enforcement and management are lacking (1 Sharpe, C.J. (2008). Atrapamoscas de Caripe Phyllomyias urichi Chapman 1899. P. 157 in:. Close ). Habitat being rapidly destroyed owing to changing agricultural practices and conversion to coffee plantations. Widespread clearance for agriculture and pasture has taken place in Cordillera de Caripe, even within protected areas; habitat in El Guácharo National Park adversely affected by understorey removal for coffee-growing, illegal clearance and fires, and slopes of Cerro Negro now largely bare, with the more obvious “forested” patches being shade coffee plantations and only the mountaintop still covered in true forest. Conversion to commercial crops and plantations (coffee, mango, banana, orange, lemon) has occurred in remainder of Macizo de Turumiquire, but relatively extensive forested areas persist; largest remaining forest block in Serranía de Turumiquire, “Piedra 'e Mole'”, measures c. 80 km² (2 Azpúrua, J.C., Hernández, L.L., Miranda, J.E. and Pérez-Emán, J.L. (2013). Status of the Grey-headed Warbler (Basileuterus griseiceps, Parulidae), an endemic and threatened species from north-eastern Venezuela. Orn. Neotropical. 24(4): 445–457. Close ). On Cerro Humo, increases in cash-crop agriculture, especially the cultivation of “ocumo blanco” (Colocasia), since middle to late 1980s, have resulted in uncontrolled burning and forest degradation. Much fieldwork is required in order to confirm this little-known species’ presence on the Paria Peninsula, to determine precise ecological requirements and to set up effective programmes for its conservation. Considered Endangered at the national level in Venezuela (3 Sharpe, C. J. (2008). Aves. In Libro Rojo de la Fauna Venezolana. Terca edición (J. P. Rodríguez and F. Rojas-Suárez, Editors). Provita and Shell Venezuela, S. A., Caracas, Venezuela. pp. 122–157. Close ).