Ochre-crowned greenlet
The ochre-crowned greenlet is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country except El Salvador, and western Colombia. This species was formerly known as the tawny-crowned greenlet and was considered to be conspecific with the Para greenlet, Guianan greenlet and rufous-fronted greenlet.
Taxonomy and systematics
The ochre-crowned greenlet was formally described in 1860 as Hylophilus ochraceiceps by the English zoologist Philip Sclater. The specimen had been collected in the state of Oaxaca of southwestern Mexico by the French ornithologist Adolphe Boucard. The specific epithet combines the Modern Latin ochraceus meaning "ochraceous" with -ceps meaning "-capped". The species is now placed in the genus Tunchiornis that was introduced in 2014.Five subspecies are recognised:T. o. ochraceiceps – Gulf lowlands of southern Mexico to GuatemalaT. o. pallidipectus – southern Guatemala and Honduras to northwestern PanamaT. o. pacificus – southeastern Costa Rica and western PanamaT. o. nelsoni – eastern Panama T. o. bulunensis – far eastern Panama to Pacific coast of Colombia and western Ecuador
The Para greenlet, Guianan greenlet, and rufous-fronted greenlet were formerly considered to be subspecies of what was then known as the tawny-crowned greenlet. Following the split the name of the original species was changed to the ochre-crowned greenlet. They are now treated as separate species based on a study of the Tunchiornis ochraceiceps complex by Nelson Buainain and collaborators that was published in 2021. Although the differences in plumage and vocalization are small, the taxa are separable by mitochondrial and nuclear genetic data.
Description
The ochre-crowned greenlet is long and weighs. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies T. o. ochraceiceps have a yellowish forehead and a yellow-brown crown. Their face is mostly dull grayish. Their upperparts are olive-brown that is slightly more greenish on the rump. Their wings' primaries and secondaries are grayish black with buff-brown edges on the outer webs. Their tail is dull brown with cinnamon-brown edges on the feathers. Their chin is mottled grayish white, their throat gray with a faint yellow-green tinge, their breast ochraceous, their flanks yellowish gray, their belly's center yellow, and their vent grayish yellow. Their underwing coverts are yellow. They have a pale gray iris, a gray maxilla, a paler mandible, and pinkish to grayish legs and feet.The other subspecies of the ochre-crowned greenlet differ from the nominate and each other thus:T. o. pallidipectus: paler throat and underparts than nominate with pale buffy breast, grayer flanks, and pale yellow underwing covertsT. o. pacificus: darker gray throat and underparts than pallidipectus with little or no yellow on the belly, brownish gray flanks, and pale yellow underwing covertsT. o. nelsoni: tawny forehead and crown, olive-greenish upperparts with olive-brown middle back and wing coverts, and pale dingy greenish yellow underpartsT. o. bulunensis: darker olive-green upperparts than nominate with bright greenish yellow underparts