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Eye-ringed Flatbill Rhynchocyclus brevirostris Scientific name definitions

John Bates
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated April 23, 2018

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Introduction

The Eye-ringed Flatbill is a reclusive flycatcher of Central America and a very small part of South America along the Panama-Colombia border. While generally fairly common, this species will sit still in the canopy, and is well-camouflaged, making it extremely difficult to see. Its call, while simple and seemingly unremarkable, is fairly distinctive and can be picked out easily with some experience: it is a single, upward, thin whistle, similar in pitch and quality to that of a Tolmomyias flycatcher, except it is given only once at a time. The Eye-ringed Flatbill is a resident of mid-elevation primary evergreen forest, as well as tall secondary forest.  This species is fairly large-headed, with an evenly wide, white eye-ring. The body is generally olive, with a paler belly, and lemon edges to the tertials and secondaries. This species is similar to the Pacific Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus pacificus) and Olivaceous Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus olivaceus) of northern South America, both of which it inhabits range near to, but does not overlap with.

Field Identification

15–17 cm; 21–23 g. Large-headed flycatcher . Male has olive-green head and upperparts, conspicuous white eyering, faint dark smudge below eye, greyish lores and cheeks, paler greyish patch on auriculars bordered behind by dusky patch; wings and tail dusky with paler yellow-olive edgings, stiffened comb-like barbs on outer primaries; tail often appears notched; throat and chest dull or dusky olive-green, becoming paler with pale greyish or yellowish shaft streaks on lower breast and sides, belly pale yellow; iris dark; bill large, broad and flat, upper mandible black, lower mandible pale horn; legs grey. Differs from R. olivaceus in bolder white eyering, brighter yellow on wings. Female lacks comb-like barbs on outer primaries. Juvenile is similar but with brighter yellow on belly and edges of wing feathers, more coarse streaking on sides, little or no breast streaking and dusky on auriculars. Races differ little: pallidus is slightly paler than nominate; hellmayri is darker above and below than nominate, with duller yellow belly.

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.

Formerly considered conspecific with R. pacificus. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies


SUBSPECIES

Rhynchocyclus brevirostris brevirostris Scientific name definitions

Distribution

S Mexico E of Isthmus of Tehuantepec (S Veracruz and N and E Oaxaca E to Yucatán Peninsula) S to W Panama (Chiriquí, Veraguas).

SUBSPECIES

Rhynchocyclus brevirostris pallidus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Pacific slope of Oaxaca (Putla and Minitán E to Pluma Hidalgo), probably also in Guerrero, in S Mexico.

SUBSPECIES

Rhynchocyclus brevirostris hellmayri Scientific name definitions

Distribution

mountains of E Panama (Darién) and extreme NW Colombia (Cerro Tacarcuna, in NW Chocó).

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

Upper understorey and middle levels of humid evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, forest borders and adjacent tall second growth; favours shady ravines. Sea-level to 2100 m in Mexico and Costa Rica; 600–1500 m in Panama and Colombia, i.e. above R. olivaceus.

Movement

Largely resident; descends to lowlands during Dec–Mar non-breeding season in Mexico.

Diet and Foraging

Diet largely arthropods, including beetles (Coleoptera), homopterans and caterpillars; berries and arillate seeds also eaten. Forages alone, often at edge of mixed-species flocks, especially those led by tanagers (of genera Chlorothraupis, Chlorospingus) and Black-faced Grosbeaks (Caryothraustes poliogaster); also frequents army-ant swarms (Costa Rica). Sits erect and quiet on low perch 1–10 m up, slowly turning head to peer upwards into mid-storey or down into understorey; rapidly darts out moderate distances in upward sally or hover-glean ­manoeuvres to capture prey from undersides of leaves and twigs, then dropping away to new perch; rarely sallies to air.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Variety of notes uttered 1–5 times, including high-pitched squeaky and rising “zweeip” or “sweeip”, a cicada-like “zzrrip”, shrill lisping “siiir” or “ssssi” note like that of Tolmomyias sulphurescens, and longer “weeep weeep wip-wip-wip” with sputtering quality.

Breeding

Mar–Jun in Mexico and Costa Rica. Nest a bulky, pear-shaped structure with downward-projecting entrance spout at side of bottom, made of rootlets, coarse fibres and dead leaves, suspended 1·5–12 m up from tip of thin twig or vine drooping over open space or small forest stream; nest also used by adults as dormitory during all seasons. Clutch: 2–3 eggs; no information on incubation and fledging periods.
Not globally threatened. Uncommon to fairly common or common throughout range. Probably locally extinct wherever deforestation has been intense, e.g. in lowlands in Panama. Occurs in Río Bravo Conservation and Management Area, Lamanai Archaeological Reserve and Columbia River Forest Reserve, all in Belize, Rancho Naturalista and Tarcol Lodge, in Costa Rica, and Darién National Park, in Panama.
Distribution of the Eye-ringed Flatbill - Range Map
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Distribution of the Eye-ringed Flatbill
Eye-ringed Flatbill, Abundance map
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Data provided by eBird

Eye-ringed Flatbill

Rhynchocyclus brevirostris

Abundance

Relative abundance is depicted for each season along a color gradient from a light color indicating lower relative abundance to a dark color indicating a higher relative abundance. Relative abundance is the estimated average count of individuals detected by an eBirder during a 1 hour, 1 kilometer traveling checklist at the optimal time of day for each species.   Learn more about this data

Relative abundance
Year-round
0.03
0.11
0.22

Recommended Citation

Bates, J. (2020). Eye-ringed Flatbill (Rhynchocyclus brevirostris), 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.eyrfla1.01
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