Plain Antvireo
A species of Antvireos Scientific name : Dysithamnus mentalis Genus : Antvireos
Plain Antvireo, A species of Antvireos
Botanical name: Dysithamnus mentalis
Genus: Antvireos
Content
Description General Info
Description
The plain antvireo is 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length and weighs 12.5–16 g (0.44–0.56 oz). The adult male of the nominate race has a slate grey head and upperparts, blackish cheeks, three narrow white wing bars, pale grey underparts and a white belly. The female has olive brown upperparts, a rufous crown, a white eye-ring, yellowish-buff underparts and weakly buff-barred rufous wings. A white (male) or buff (female) shoulder stripe is only visible when the wing is spread. Immature males are much like the adult male, but have brown edgings to the flight feathers, an olive rump and yellowish underparts. Depending on subspecies, there are large variations in the plumage of both sexes, especially in the colour of the underparts (yellow to white), the darkness of the face, the amount of olive to the upperparts of the male, and the amount of rufous to the upperparts of the female. It has a musical buu-bu-bu-bu-u-u-u song, and calls include a weak naaa and a questioning bu-u-u-u-u?
Size
13 cm
Nest Placement
Tree
Feeding Habits
Plain Antvireo, a small passerine bird, primarily feeds on insects and arthropods, supplemented by berries. It gleans prey from foliage with agile maneuvers, showing a preference for certain types of insects. Its diet reflects an adaptation to understory foraging.
Habitat
The plain Antvireo inhabits mainly the understory and mid-story of humid evergreen forests, from lowland to montane areas. Its habitat ranges include primary and tall secondary growth forests, and extends to deciduous and semi-deciduous forests within a broad elevation range from sea level to 2,500 meters. The species is also adapted to various woodland environments such as terra firme, várzea, and gallery forests, prevalently within the Atlantic forest regions.
Dite type
Insectivorous
General Info
Feeding Habits
Bird food type
Distribution Area
This is a common and confiding bird of primary and secondary forest. The plain antvireo breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It is patchily distributed at the margins of its range and generally (but not universally) avoids the lowlands. In Guyana for example, it is at least locally common above 1,000 meters ASL in the Pakaraima Mountains (though not Mount Roraima), and also inhabits the southern Acari Mountains. On the other hand, it has not been recorded from the Iwokrama Forest or the Potaro Plateau. In Nicaragua where upland habitat is mainly restricted to the northwest, the species occurs only here and there in most of the country. For example, the plain antvireo was found to be common, a few dozen meters ASL, in the Dipteryx oleifera-dominated primary forest of Refugio Bartola in the very south of Nicaragua.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Family
Antbirds Genus
Antvireos Species
Plain Antvireo