Streak-crowned Antvireo
Dysithamnus striaticeps
This plump little forest bird has a large head and short tail. Not striking, but distinctive in limited range. Male grayer, female browner. Look for small white spots on wing and faint streaks on throat and chest. Both sexes have streaked crown, although male is gray and female is rufous. Often seen following a mixed-species flock; sticks to the lower levels in the forest.
Identification
The streak-crowned antvireo is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 15 to 17 g (0.53 to 0.60 oz). Adult males have a dark gray forehead, crown, and nape with heavy grayish white streaking. Their ear coverts are blackish. Their upperparts are grayish olive with a hidden white patch between the scapulars. Their flight feathers are dark grayish olive with wide buffy grayish edges; their wing coverts are blackish with white tips. Their tail is dark grayish olive with narrow white tips on the feathers. Their throat and breast are white with prominent dark streaks, their sides olive-gray, their belly whitish, and their undertail coverts whitish with a yellowish tinge. Adult females have a rufous crown and nape with dark spots. Their wing coverts are less black than the male's and their breast and flanks are ochraceous. Subadult males resemble adult females but with grayer upperparts and whiter underparts.
Taxonomy
The streak-crowned antvireo is monotypic. It and the spot-crowned antvireo (D. puncticeps) are closely related and may form a superspecies.
- Scientific name
- Dysithamnus striaticeps
- Authority
- Lawrence, 1865
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Dysithamnus
Range and habitat
The streak-crowned antvireo is found from extreme southeastern Honduras along the Caribbean slope through Nicaragua and most of Costa Rica, and also across northern Costa Rica into Guanacaste Province. It primarily inhabits the understorey to mid-storey of evergreen forest in the lowlands and foothills, and much less frequently is found in mature secondary forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft) in Honduras and to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Cinereous Tinamou
Crypturellus cinereus
Small dark tinamou of tropical lowlands. Entirely brownish gray. Found in the understory of rainforest, especially along streams and in areas with dense undergrowth. Listen for a short, flat whistle, repeated about once every four seconds.
Streak-capped Spinetail
Cranioleuca hellmayri
Mostly brown arboreal spinetail with a black-streaked rufous crown and rufous wings and tail. Has a narrow white eyebrow, diffuse pale streaks on face, and slightly downcurved bill. Forages actively by hitching up branches and tree trunks, checking leaves and bromeliads. Often found with mixed-species flocks in humid forests, tall secondary forests, and forest borders. Quite vocal, the song an accelerating series of short, high notes; calls are a squeaky “CHIP-up.” Similar to Crested Spinetail but in Streak-capped note the contrasting rufous crown and white eyebrow. Endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Sierra de Perija in Colombia and Venezuela.
Eared Pygmy-Tyrant
Myiornis auricularis
Miniscule greenish-yellow flycatcher with a short tail that is easily overlooked in the lower levels of humid forests and second growth. Note the chestnut eye patch fringed by a black crescent (ear patch), its pale streaky gray neck, and yellow-olive back. The wings make a buzzing noise in flight. Listen for its repetitive “prrii-priii-prii” song and its “pic-pic-pic” call.
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