Buff-throated tody-tyrant
The buff-throated tody-tyrant is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The buff-throated tody-tyrant has a complicated taxonomic history. It was originally described in 1873 as Euscarthmus rufigularis. In the twentieth century it was moved to genus Idioptilon which was later merged into Hemitriccus.The buff-throated tody-tyrant is monotypic.
Description
The buff-throated tody-tyrant is about long and weighs. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a grayish buff crown and nape. They have an indistinct buffy white eye-ring on and otherwise cinnamon buff face. Their back and rump are olive green. Their wings and tail are olive green with greenish yellow edges on the flight feathers and tail feathers. Their throat and breast are pale cinnamon buff with faint gray streaks, their belly is whitish with a yellow tinge and gray mottling on the flanks, and their undertail coverts are pale yellow. They have a highly variable pale iris, a black maxilla with a whitish tip, a grayish or cream mandible, and pale gray or cream legs and feet.Distribution and habitat
Most sources place the buff-throated tody-tyrant in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Those that provide detail place it along the eastern side of the Andes from northern Ecuador south through Peru into Bolivia as far as western Santa Cruz Department. It occurs mostly on outlying ridges in the foothills rather than on the main slope. However, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society and BirdLife International include Colombia in its range. The latter's map shows it straddling the Colombia-Ecuador border.The buff-throated tody-tyrant inhabits humid montane forest in the subtropical zone, generally in forest whose canopy is high and much less often in lower, stunted, forest on ridgetops. In elevation it ranges between in Ecuador, in Peru, and in Bolivia.