olive-chested flycatcher
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Olive-chested flycatcher
| image = Myiophobus cryptoxanthus - Olive-chested Flycatcher (cropped).jpg
| image_caption = Olive-chested flycatcher seen in Napo Province, Ecuador
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Myiophobus
| species = cryptoxanthus
| authority = (Sclater, PL, 1861)
| synonyms =
| range_map = Myiophobus cryptoxanthus map.svg
}}
The olive-chested flycatcher (Myiophobus cryptoxanthus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flycatchers/ |title=Tyrant flycatchers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 14.2 | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=August 2024 |access-date=19 August 2024 }}
Taxonomy and systematics
The olive-chested flycatcher was originally described by English ornithologist Philip Sclater in 1861 as Myiobius cryptoxanthus, from specimens collected by Louis Fraser in Gualaquiza and Zamora in Ecuador.{{cite journal |last1=Sclater |first1=Philip Lutley |title=Characters of Ten New Species of American Birds |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |date=1860 |volume=28 |issue=3 |page=465 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12867049 |language=la, en|access-date=January 14, 2025}} Its specific epithet cryptoxanthus comes from the Greek kryptos and xanthos, meaning hidden and yellow respectively, and apparently refers to its crown patch.
The olive-chested flycatcher was considered a subspecies of the bran-colored flycatcher (M. fasciatus) by Cory & Hellmayr in 1927 under the name Sclater's banded flycatcher.{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Theodore A. |last2=Parker |first2=S. A. |title=Behavioral and distributional notes on some unusual birds of a lower montane cloud forest in Peru |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |date=1982 |volume=102 |issue=2 |page=65 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40825260#page/279/mode/1up |access-date=January 14, 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=Hellmayr |first1=Carl Eduard |last2=Cory |first2=Charles B. |title=Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. 5. Tyrannidae |journal=Catalogue of Birds of the Americas and the Adjacent Islands in Field Museum of Natural History and Including All Species and Subspecies Known to Occur in North America, Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and Islands of the Caribbean Sea, the Galapagos Archipelago, and Other Islands Which May Properly be Included on Account of Their Faunal Affinities |date=1927 |volume=13 |page=254 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21258#page/267/mode/1up |access-date=27 July 2024}} The olive-chested and bran-colored flycatchers form a superspecies, and some authors have suggested that the two should be assigned their own genus.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 18 November 2024. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved November 26, 2024
The olive-chested flycatcher is monotypic.
Description
The olive-chested flycatcher is about {{convert|12|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighs about {{convert|8.5|to|11|g|oz|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}.Farnsworth, A. and D. J. Lebbin (2020). Olive-chested Flycatcher (Myiophobus cryptoxanthus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.olcfly1.01 retrieved January 14, 2025{{cite journal |last1=Rahbek |first1=Carsten |last2=Bloch |first2=Hanne |last3=Poulsen |first3=Michael Koie |last4=Rasmussen |first4=Jan Fischer |title=Avian body weights from southern Ecuador |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |date=1993 |volume=113 |issue=2 |page=106 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40028212#page/116/mode/1up |access-date=January 14, 2025}}{{cite web |title=Olive-chested Flycatcher |url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=512BC132E8A4889B&sec=summary |website=Avibase |access-date=January 14, 2025}} The sexes have almost identical plumage. Adult males have a dull olive-brown crown with a partially hidden yellow patch in the middle. Females have a smaller patch than males. Both sexes have dark lores, a whitish line over them, and a thin whitish broken eye-ring on an otherwise dark olive face. Their back and rump are dark olive. Their wings are dusky with whitish buff tips of the wing coverts that show as two wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat is dirty white. Their breast is heavily streaked with grayish olive that extends onto the flanks. Their belly and vent are pale yellow. They have a dark iris and black legs and feet.{{cite book | last =Ridgely | first =Robert S. | last2 =Greenfield | first2 =Paul J. | title =The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide | publisher =Cornell University Press | volume = II| date =2001 | location =Ithaca | pages =499 | isbn =978-0-8014-8721-7 }}{{cite book | last =Schulenberg | first =T.S. | last2 =Stotz | first2 =D.F. | last3 =Lane | first3 =D.F. | last4 =O'Neill | first4 =J.P. | last5 =Parker | first5 =T.A. III | title =Birds of Peru | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =revised and updated |series=Princeton Field Guides | date =2010 | location =Princeton, NJ | pages =442 |isbn = 978-0691130231 }} One source states that their bill is all black; the type specimen had a "carnea" (fleshy) mandible.
Distribution
The olive-chested flycatcher was originally known from Ecuador. It now is known along the entire eastern slope of the Andes of Ecuador from Sucumbíos Province and into northeastern Peru's Cajamarca, Amazonas, Loreto, and San Martín departments. It inhabits somewhat open landscapes like shrubby clearings and pastures, secondary woodland, and the edges of heavier forest. In elevation it occurs mostly between {{convert|400|and|1400|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Ecuador and {{convert|900|and|1750|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}} in Peru. These elevations are slightly higher than the related bran-colored flycatcher.
Behavior
=Movement=
=Feeding=
The olive-chested flycatcher feeds on arthropods and probably also on small berries. It typically forages alone or in pairs, usually in the forest's understory, and is not known to join mixed-species feeding flocks. When perched it has an erect posture. It takes prey from foliage and twigs while perched and with short flights to hover-glean.
=Breeding=
=Vocalization=
The olive-chested flycatcher's song is "an evenly spaced series of rich dewp or wheep notes sometimes interspersed with chattered phrases: dji'dji'dji-wheep dji'dji'dji-wheep dji'dji'dji-wheep". Its call is "a rapid, rich, rising errr'djidjidjidjidjidjidji?". Other descriptions are "an endlessly repeated 'chwee...whwee...chwee...' " song and "a sprightly 'weee d’d’d’d’d’d’d?' " call.
Status
The IUCN has assessed the olive-chested flycatcher as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be increasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered "numerous" in Ecuador and uncommon to locally fairly common in Peru. It occurs in some protected areas in Ecuador.