Happy Wren
Pheugopedius felix
Small, often very skulking wren of lowlands and foothills in West Mexico; endemic. Favors tropical forests, thorn forests, and thickets, usually with vine tangles. Heard more often than seen. Song a happy-sounding, repeated series of sweet whistles. Calls include a rising trill, like running your thumbnail along a comb. Plumage distinctive, with striped face bordered below by black whisker, and orangish underparts. Often occurs alongside and sometimes in the same bush as the much plainer and different-sounding Sinaloa Wren.
Identification
There is little difference between the sexes as adults. They are fairly typical small wrens, with a black and white striped face, a downward curving bill, chestnut upperparts and cream underparts. Howell and Webb give its length as 12.5 – 14 cm.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pheugopedius felix
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1860)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Pheugopedius
Range and habitat
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. Its nest is typical of the Pheugopedius wrens, being roughly spherical with an entrance chute at one end, pointing downwards.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Pale-billed Sicklebill
Drepanornis bruijnii
A large, long-billed bird of lowland forest. Brown upperparts with black head and grayish facial skin behind the eye. Note the curved, pale bill. Male has a black throat, sides and two small, hornlike tufts on the head. Female has pale underparts with dark barring. Similar to female Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise and Magnificent Riflebird, but female Pale-billed Sicklebill has a longer, thinner, more curved bill. One of several vocalizations, a descending series of low whistles, reminiscent of Common Potoo.
Russet-crowned Warbler
Myiothlypis coronata
Fairly common in Andean subtropical zone from Venezuela to Bolivia. A chunky warbler, olive above with a gray head, bold black head stripes, and a rufous central crown stripe. Underparts vary from bright yellow to pale grayish. Sexes alike. Found from 1,500–3,000 m, usually foraging in pairs in the forest understory. Often accompanies a mixed-species flock. Listen for song, a series of rising musical notes often given as a duet.
Pearl-breasted Swallow
Hirundo dimidiata
A martin-like swallow with a bicolored plumage pattern of steel-blue upperparts and pale underparts. Pairs or small groups flit low over grassland, scrub, farmland, and open woodland, often near water. It is a migrant to the southern parts of South Africa, but it is resident elsewhere, with some poorly understood movements. The Pearl-breasted Swallow differs from House Martin and Gray-rumped Swallow by having a dark (not pale) rump and pale (not dark) underwings.
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