White-bellied Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus griseipectus Scientific name definitions

The White-bellied Tody-Tyrant (Hemitriccus griseipectus) is a tiny bird with a large voice. Its simple song of two or three sharp notes is a frequent sound of the humid lowland forests of western Amazonia. This species forages in the under- and midstory of forest; it is easy to overlook until it begins to call or makes a short sally to nearby foliage to capture an insect.

It perhaps is most common in southeastern Peru and adjacent regions, but its distribution extends north to the southern bank of the Amazon, and east to the lower Rio Tocantins in eastern Amazonian Brazil; there also is an allopatric subspecies in northeastern Brazil.

The White-bellied Tody-Tyrant has a very simple plumage pattern, primarily light olive green above and grayish white below, with a pale iris. It was formerly included in the same species as the yellow-bellied White-eyed Tody-Tyrant (Hemitriccus zosterops) of northern Amazonia. As in other Hemitriccus species, the nest is a hanging, closed structure, but detailed information of most aspects of the breeding biology are unknown. The nominal subspecies, although widely distributed, is the least known in terms of natural history.