Golden-crowned spadebill
The golden-crowned spadebill is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found Central America from Honduras to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Taxonomy and systematics
The golden-crowned spadebill has three subspecies, the nominate P. c. coronatus, P. c. superciliaris, and P. c. gumia. A study published in 2012 found deep genetic differences between the subspecies on either side of the Andes, evidence that some of them may warrant treatment as full species.Description
The golden-crowned spadebill is the smallest member of its genus. It is about long and weighs. It has a large head with a bold facial pattern and a stubby tail. The sexes have almost the same plumage. Males of the nominate subspecies have a black crown with a partially hidden orange-rufous patch in the center; females have a purer orange patch. Both sexes have pale buff-yellow as a patch above the lores, as an eye-ring, as a stripe behind the eye, and as a patch on the ear coverts. Their lores are blackish brown that continues as a stripe through and beneath the eye and around the ear coverts. The rest of their head and their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive. Their throat is pale whitish yellow and their underparts mostly pale yellow. Their breast has an olive wash or streaks. Juveniles do not have the colorful crown patch; they have paler facial markings and underparts than adults with grayish olive upperparts and ochraceous edges of the wing coverts and flight feathers. Subspecies P. c. superciliaris has brighter yellow underparts than the nominate and P. c. gumia has a brighter yellow belly. All subspecies have a dark iris, a wide flat bill with a black maxilla and a pale yellow mandible, and pale pinkish legs and feet.Distribution and habitat
The golden-crowned spadebill has a disjunct distribution with the Andes separating one subspecies from the others. Subspecies P. c. superciliaris is found from northern and eastern Honduras south through Nicaragua on the Caribbean slope, through Costa Rica and Panama on the Caribbean and Pacific slopes, and thence west of the Andes through Colombia and south into northwestern Ecuador as far as northern Los Ríos Province. In Colombia its range also extends east to Santander Department. In elevation it ranges from sea level to in Central America though only to on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, to in western Colombia, and between to in western Ecuador.The nominate subspecies is a bird of the Amazon Basin. It is found from southern Amazonas state in southern Venezuela southwest across southeastern Colombia and south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northern Bolivia to La Paz Department. Its range extends east into Brazil to the upper Negro River north of the Amazon, and south of the Amazon east to the Xingu River and south to Mato Grosso. P. c. gumia is found from central and eastern Bolívar state in southeastern Venezuela east through the Guianas and northern Brazil to the Atlantic in Amapá. In elevation the subspecies reach in Venezuela, to in eastern Colombia, between in eastern Ecuador, and mostly to but locally higher in Brazil.
The golden-crowned spadebill is found in the tropical and lower subtropical zones of lowlands and foothills. It inhabits the understory of humid primary and mature secondary forest both várzea and terra firme.