Zimmer's Tody-Tyrant

Sparkling green and rusty bird found in cloud forest along the east slope of the Andes, at higher elevations than other jacamars. Mostly restricted to Ecuador, but it also reaches southern Colombia and extreme northern Peru. Green with reddish belly and undertail, blue crown and throat, and buffy eyering. Female has reddish throat. Long, thin bill may give the impression of an enormous hummingbird. Perches at low to mid levels, looking around frantically before sallying out to snatch an insect.

A cute, dumpy, colorful flycatcher-like bird that flits around in the mid-canopy and understory of forest, forest edge, plantations, and gardens. Males have a broad black chest band, yellow-orange eye, white stripe through the top of the wing, and white throat. Females have an orange eye, buff-and-white stripe through the top of the wing, and rufous chin patch. The song is a series of 8-9 plaintive steady piping “peooop” notes, and calls include buzzing grating “ddrz-drrzt-drrr, ddt-ddzt-drzt-drr”. Female Dark Batis is distinguished by its darker (rich rufous rather than white and buff) wing stripe. Male Dark Batis is very similar, but has a slightly longer tail and broader black breast stripe. Also similar to Chinspot Batis, but has darker orange color to the eyes, and female Malawi Batis shows paler rufous on the throat and buff tinges to the wing stripe.

Small bird with a long, graduated tail. Both sexes have a brown back and rusty wings and tail; note the black throat. Occurs on river islands in dense, scrubby early successional vegetation. The song is a mechanical, nasal “eh, ehhhhhhhh.” The similar Plain-crowned Spinetail lacks the black throat, and Pale-breasted Spinetail has a rusty crown.