Dysithamnus mentalis
| Plain antvireo | |
|---|---|
.JPG) |
|
| A male plain antvireo at Jacutinga, Minas Gerais State, Brazil | |
 |
|
| A female plain antvireo at Cordillera del Cóndor, Ecuador | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thamnophilidae |
| Genus: | Dysithamnus |
| Species: | D. mentalis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Dysithamnus mentalis (Temminck, 1823) |
|
The plain antvireo (Dysithamnus mentalis) is a passerine bird species in the antbird family (Thamnophilidae), wherein it belongs to the antshrike subfamily (Thamnophilinae). It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America.
The plain antvireo is typically 11.4 cm long, and weighs 13.5 g. The adult male has a slate grey head and upperparts, blackish cheeks, three narrow white wing bars, pale grey underparts and a white belly. The female has olive brown upperparts, a rufous crown, a white eye-ring, yellowish-buff underparts and weakly buff-barred rufous wings. A white (male) or buff (female) shoulder stripe is only visible when the wing is spread. Immature males are much like the adult male, but have brown edgings to the flight feathers, an olive rump and yellowish underparts.
Depending on subspecies, there are large variations in the plumage of both sexes, especially in the colour of the underparts (yellow to white), the darkness of the face, the amount of olive to the upperparts of the male, and the amount of rufous to the upperparts of the female.
It has a musical buu-bu-bu-bu-u-u-u song, and calls include a weak naaa and a questioning bu-u-u-u-u?
This is a common and confiding bird of primary and secondary forest. The plain antvireo breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It is patchily distributed at the margins of its range and generally (but not universally) avoids the lowlands.
In Guyana for example, it is at least locally common above 1,000 meters ASL in the Pakaraima Mountains (though not Mount Roraima), and also inhabits the southern Acari Mountains. On the other hand, it has not been recorded from the Iwokrama Forest or the Potaro Plateau. In Nicaragua where upland habitat is mainly restricted to the northwest, the species occurs only here and there in most of the country. For example, the plain antvireo was found to be common, a few dozen meters ASL, in the Dipteryx oleifera-dominated primary forest of Refugio Bartola in the very south of Nicaragua.
...
Wikipedia