Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Cyclarhis gujanensis
A large chunky vireo, widespread in tropical and subtropical wooded habitats. Forages sluggishly, mainly at mid-upper levels, sometimes joining mixed-species feeding flocks. Plumage varies across its range, but all populations have a very stout pale bill, a rusty eyebrow, and pinkish legs; underparts vary from bright yellow (as in mainland Mexico and Central America) to dingy yellow (as on Cozumel Island).
Identification
The adult rufous-browed peppershrike is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs 28 g (0.99 oz). It is bull-headed with a thick, somewhat shrike-like bill, which typically is blackish below and pinkish-grey above. The head is grey with a strong rufous eyebrow. The crown is often tinged with brown. The upperparts are green, and the yellow throat and breast shade into a white belly. The subspecies ochrocephala from the south-eastern part of its range has a shorter rufous eyebrow and a brown-tinged crown, while the subspecies virenticeps, contrerasi and saturata from north-western Peru and western Ecuador have greenish-yellow (not grey, as in the "typical" subspecies) nape, auriculars and cheeks.<p>The song is a whistled phrase with the rhythm "Do you wash every week?", but there are extensive variations depending on both individual and range. It is often heard but hard to see as it feeds on insects and spiders high in the foliage, though it has been observed to take small lizards as well.
Taxonomy
The rufous-browed peppershrike was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Tanagra and coined the binomial name Tanagra gujanensis. The specific epithet is derived from the type locality, the Guianas. Gmelin based his account on "Le verderoux" from French Guiana that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his multivolume Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The rufous-browed peppershrike is now placed with the black-billed peppershrike in the genus Cyclarhis that was introduced in 1824 by William Swainson.<p>Twenty two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Cyclarhis gujanensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vireonidae
- Genus
- Cyclarhis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The nest is a flimsy cup high in a tree with a typical clutch of two or three pinkish-white eggs lightly blotched with brown. Like most vireos, the peppershrike ejects parasitic cowbird eggs.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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