About Poecilotriccus sylvia (Desmarest, 1806)
The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher (scientific name Poecilotriccus sylvia, first described by Desmarest in 1806) is approximately 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 6.7 to 8.5 g (0.24 to 0.30 oz). Males and females have identical plumage. Adult individuals of the nominate subspecies P. s. sylvia have a gray crown and nape. Their lores are gray, with a white stripe above the lores and a broken white eye-ring set against an otherwise gray face. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are olive. Their wings are blackish, with narrow yellowish edges on the inner flight feathers and large yellow tips on the coverts; these yellow tips form two distinct wing bars. Their tail is olive. Their throat and underparts are grayish white, with grayish streaks on the lower throat and breast, and an olive tinge on the flanks. Juveniles have an olive crown and back, buffy wing bars, and paler, grayer, unstreaked underparts. The other four subspecies differ from the nominate and from each other as follows: P. s. schistaceiceps has pale yellow sides, flanks, and crissum, unstreaked underparts, and highly variable iris color ranging from pale yellow to reddish brown; P. s. superciliaris is somewhat darker than the nominate subspecies; P. s. griseolus is somewhat darker than the nominate, with more gray coloring on the lower throat and breast; P. s. schulzi is darker than the nominate, with a much grayer breast and deeper ochraceous wing bars. All subspecies most commonly have a dark brown iris, though the iris may sometimes be pale yellow, gray, or white. They have a black bill and light bluish gray legs and feet. The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher has a strongly disjunct distribution, with each subspecies occupying a separate range: P. s. schistaceiceps is found from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca in southern Mexico, extending south along the Gulf/Caribbean slope through Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, and along both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes through Nicaragua and Costa Rica into Panama as far as the Canal Zone; P. s. superciliaris occurs in Colombia, on the Caribbean coast, in the valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers, in the middle section of the Dagua River valley, and on the eastern slope of the Eastern Andes extending south into Meta Department; P. s. griseolus is found in extreme eastern Colombia and across most of northern Venezuela; P. s. sylvia ranges from northeastern Roraima state in northern Brazil through southwestern Guyana, with an unconfirmed potential presence in French Guiana; P. s. schulzi occurs in northeastern Brazil, from eastern Pará east to Piauí. Most sources include French Guiana in the species' range, with Clements and Hilty listing the range as including 'the Guianas'. However, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has no confirmed records of this species from French Guiana. The slaty-headed tody-flycatcher lives in dense scrubby vegetation across multiple landscape types in tropical and lower subtropical zones. These habitats include natural primary forest edges, road-side primary forest edges, secondary forest, overgrown clearings and pastures, gallery forest, and moderately open woodlands. Across its entire range, it mostly occurs from sea level up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in elevation; it only reaches around 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Costa Rica and Venezuela, and reaches up to 1,350 m (4,400 ft) in Colombia.
