White-throated spadebill

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White-throated spadebill

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Platyrinchus
Species:
P. mystaceus
Binomial name
Platyrinchus mystaceus
Vieillot, 1818
Synonyms
  • Platyrhynchus albigularis

The white-throated spadebill (Platyrinchus mystaceus) is a tiny

tropical Americas
.

Description

White-throated spadebill (above), and yellow-throated spadebill (below); illustration by Joseph Smit, 1888

The adult white-throated spadebill is 3.8 inches (9.7 cm) long, weighs 0.33 oz (9.4 g), and has large eyes and a very short tail. The large head is distinctively marked, with a long yellowish supercilium, blackish ear coverts, yellow eyering, and a black stripe down each side of the neck. The crown has a concealed yellow crest, which is erected as a fan by the singing male. The upperparts are dark olive brown, and the underparts are buff apart from the white throat. The bill is black above and brown below, and is very broad and flat, hence the English and scientific names "spadebill" and Platyrinchus.

Sexes are similar, other than the female having a smaller crown patch, but young birds are brighter and ruddier above, lack the crown patch, and have a grey throat and breast shading to a whitish belly. They are not particularly vocal but have a sharp chweet call.

The subspecies Platyrinchus mystaceus insularis occurs only in Trinidad, Tobago and in Venezuela, other forms differing in the brightness of the underparts or the crown colour. The taxonomy of this species is uncertain, with some dubious subspecies, but also the possibility that what is usually treated as the white-throated spadebill consists of more than one species.

Distribution and ecology

The white-throated spadebill breeds from

IUCN.[2]

This species is found in wet hill forests and will to some extent use

canopy height of 33–100 ft (10–30 m) such as Elaeagia (Rubiaceae) and Hieronyma oblonga (Phyllanthaceae), overgrown with epiphytes and hemiepiphytes (e.g. Clusiaceae).[3]

White-throated spadebills are solitary active birds, difficult to see as they move rapidly through the undergrowth in search of small

mixed-species feeding flocks.[4]

The deep cup nest is made of dead grass and plant fibres and placed low in a sapling. The typical clutch is two yellow-tinged white eggs with a rufous wreath.

Notes

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103679869A93740731.en
    . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Salaman et al. (2002), BLI (2008)
  3. ^ Salaman et al. (2002)
  4. ^ Machado (1999), de A. Gabriel & Pizo (2005)

References

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