About Xolmis coronatus (Vieillot, 1823)
The black-crowned monjita (Xolmis coronatus) is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 40 to 53 g (1.4 to 1.9 oz). The sexes share the same plumage, though females are slightly smaller than males. Adult black-crowned monjitas have a black crown with a wide white stripe around its base, blackish ear coverts, and a white lower face. Their upperparts are gray or brownish gray. Their wings are blackish, with white bases to the flight feathers that are visible when the bird is in flight. Their wing coverts have white tips and edges, and their tertials have white edges. Their tail is blackish on the upper side and white on the lower side. Their throat and entire underparts are white. They have a dark iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet. This species is distributed from western Santa Cruz Department in central Bolivia, south through western Paraguay, western Rio Grande do Sul in extreme southern Brazil, western Uruguay, and Argentina, reaching as far south as RÃo Negro and southern Buenos Aires provinces. The South American Classification Committee has records of this species occurring as a vagrant in Chile and on the Falkland Islands. The black-crowned monjita inhabits open and semi-open grasslands, woodlands, and brushy steppe. It occurs at elevations ranging from near sea level to about 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
