About Rhytipterna holerythra (P.L.Sclater & Salvin, 1860)
The rufous mourner, Rhytipterna holerythra, measures 19.5 to 21 cm (7.7 to 8.3 in) long and weighs approximately 32 to 39 g (1.1 to 1.4 oz). Males and females have identical plumage. Nominate subspecies males have mostly cinnamon brown to russet heads and upperparts, with a darker rufous crown. Their wings are darker brown than their back, with cinnamon rufous edges along the flight feathers. Their tail is mostly cinnamon rufous, with darker central feathers. Their underparts are bright cinnamon to tawny ochraceous, with lighter coloring on the throat and belly, and darker coloring on the breast. Juveniles have brighter, more rufous upperparts and paler cinnamon buff underparts compared to adults. Subspecies R. h. rosenbergi is similar to the nominate, but has deeper coloration on both its upperparts and underparts. Both subspecies have a light brown to reddish brown iris, a slightly hooked black bill with a dusky brown base to the maxilla and a variably pale base to the mandible, and gray to black legs and feet.
Of the two subspecies of rufous mourner, the nominate subspecies is the more northerly. It occurs on the Gulf-Caribbean slope from Oaxaca in southern Mexico (excluding the Yucatán Peninsula) south through southern Belize, northern Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. It also occurs on the Pacific slope from central Costa Rica south, on both slopes through Panama, and across north-central Colombia. Subspecies R. h. rosenbergi occurs on the Pacific slope from southern Chocó Department in northwestern Colombia south into Ecuador as far as Pichincha Province, with scattered records from further south. The rufous mourner lives in humid evergreen forest and mature secondary forest in the lowlands of the tropical and lower subtropical zones. Its elevation range extends from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in northern Central America and Costa Rica, up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Colombia, and only as high as 700 m (2,300 ft) in Ecuador.
