Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher
Polioptila lactea
Distinctive gnatcatcher. Males have a glossy black cap and are gray above with a white face and yellow-washed underparts. Females have a gray cap. Forages acrobatically in the canopy and at the edges of humid forests and woodlands. May be seen alone or with mixed-species flocks. The song is a fast, thin “weet-weet-weet-weet.”
Identification
The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher is 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) long and weighs approximately 7 g (0.25 oz). The male has a bluish-black cap and white lores and supercilium. Its upperparts are dark slate blue. Its long tail's central feathers are black and the outermost white with those between being black and white. Its cheeks and underparts are pale yellowish transitioning to white on the lower belly. The female and juvenile are similar to the male but with slate gray crowns.
Taxonomy
The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher is monotypic. It has occasionally been thought to be conspecific with the tropical gnatcatcher (P. plumbea).
- Scientific name
- Polioptila lactea
- Authority
- Sharpe, 1885
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Polioptilidae
- Genus
- Polioptila
Range and habitat
The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher is found in southern Brazil from Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio de Janeiro states south to Santa Catarina state and adjoining southeastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. It inhabits several biomes including open humid forest and its edges, temperate rainforest, semi-deciduous forest, and scrublands. It elevation it usually occurs below 400 m (1,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher's diet is not well known but is probably small insects and spiders. It forages by gleaning and hover-gleaning foliage, alone and in mixed-species foraging flocks.<p>Almost nothing is known about the creamy-bellied gnatcatcher's breeding phenology. One nest has been described. It was built by both sexes of moss and leaves in the crotch of a branch near the top of a 30 m (98 ft) high tree.<p>The creamy-bellied gnatcatcher's song is "a simple, rather fast repetition...tee tee tee tee swee swee swee" [1]. Its call is spie [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Banded Honeyeater
Cissomela pectoralis
Small black-and-white honeyeater found in drier woodlands of northern tropical Australia. Black above, white below, with neat white cheeks and black breast band. Nonbreeding adult has brownish back. Immature has yellow cheeks and brown upperparts. Juvenile similar but even paler brown and has very indistinct breast band.
Rusty-bellied Shortwing
Brachypteryx hyperythra
A very small, dark bird of dark undergrowth in evergreen forests. The male has gray-blue upperparts, bright orange underparts, and a short white eyebrow. The female is grayish-brown above, with duller orangish underparts. Very shy and inconspicuous. The jingling song consists of high-pitched, bell-like, tinkling notes that accelerate rapidly towards the end.
Red-throated Pipit
Anthus cervinus
Small pipit; adults distinctive with rusty-red face and throat (paler in winter), contrasting with streaked white belly. The back is heavily streaked black, white, and brown, and the rump is also streaked. Breeds in mountains and on the tundra in open grasslands and boggy areas with willows. Winters in a range of damp, open habitats, such as wet fields, marshlands, pastures, and riverbanks. Camouflaged and difficult to spot on the ground. When flushed may fly a long way uttering a far-carrying "pssiiih" call.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.