About Anairetes reguloides (Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837)
The pied-crested tit-tyrant, Anairetes reguloides (Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837), is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long. A sample of five females had an average weight of 6.7 g (0.24 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a dramatic split black crest, formed by elongated feathers on the sides of the crown. The rest of their crown and their nape are white, and the rest of their head is black. Their upperparts are black with thin white streaks. Their wings are black, with white ends on the flight feathers. Their wing coverts have wide white tips that appear as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is black with thin white tips on the feathers; the outermost pair of tail feathers have entirely white outer webs. Their breast and flanks are streaked with black and white, and their belly and undertail coverts are whitish with a faint yellow tinge. Adult females have a shorter crest than males. They have a white crescent under their eye, thin white streaks on their black throat, and are colored buffy dark gray and white instead of black and white on other parts of the body. Juveniles have a shorter crest than adult females, dark buffy brown upperparts, and pale buffy underparts. Males of subspecies A. r. albiventris have a longer crest than the nominate subspecies, a pure white belly, and larger white areas on their crown, nape, and outer tail feathers. Both sexes of both subspecies have a dark brown iris, a yellow to bright red-orange bill with a dark tip, and black legs and feet. Of the two subspecies of the pied-crested tit-tyrant, subspecies A. r. albiventris is the more northerly. It is found in Peru, from Ancash Department south to Ica and western Ayacucho departments. The nominate subspecies is found from southern Ayacucho south into extreme northwestern Chile's Arica Province. Single specimens of the species have been recorded from Peru's Cuzco and Apurímac departments. The species inhabits the generally arid coastal region. It occurs in scrublands, thickets along watercourses, 'fog oasis' lomas, hedgerows in agricultural plots, and also in Polylepis woodlands above treeline. In elevation, it ranges from sea level to 4,000 m (13,000 ft), but it occurs below about 2,800 m (9,200 ft) in the northern part of its range, where it overlaps with the range of the black-crested tit-tyrant.
