Plain Antvireo

__NOTOC__Taxobox
name = Plain Antvireo
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Neornithes
infraclassis = Neognathae
superordo = Neoaves
ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Tyranni
infraordo = Tyrannides
superfamilia = Furnarioidea
familia = Thamnophilidae
subfamilia = Thamnophilinae
genus = "Dysithamnus"
species = "D. mentalis"
binomial = "Dysithamnus mentalis"
binomial_authority = (Temminck, 1823)

The Plain Antvireo, "Dysithamnus mentalis", is a passerine bird species in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.

Description

The Plain Antvireo is typically 11.4 cm long, and weighs 13.5 g. The adult male 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. 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.

If the nest is approached, an incubating bird will drop to the ground and flutter weakly to distract the potential predator. It then shows a white (male) or buff (female) shoulder stripe which is not normally visible.

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?"

Ecology

This is a common and confiding bird of primary and second growth forest. The Plain Antvireo feeds like a vireo on small insects and other arthropods taken from twigs and foliage in the lower branches of trees. It is usually found in pairs or small groups like adults with last years' young or birds congregating at a special food source. Mated pairs are quite territorial against conspecifics however, and defend a patch of habitat of about 7,000 square metres, but sometimes only half that big [Duca "et al." (2006)] .

The female lays two cinnamon-marked white eggs in a small deep cup nest in the lateral fork of a sapling. The eggs are incubated by both parents for 15 days to hatching, with a further 9 days to fledging.

Due to its large range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN. It appears to be tolerant of some degree of habitat disturbance and/or human activity. [BLI (2006), Duca "et al." (2006)]

Footnotes

References

*|year=2004|id=50240|title=Dysithamnus mentalis|downloaded=12 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* (2006): Territory size of three Antbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) in an Atlantic Forest fragment in southeastern Brazil. [English with Portuguese abstract] "Revista Brasileira de Zoologia" 23(3): 692-698. doi|10.1590/S0101-81752006000300011 [http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbzool/v23n3/a11v23n3.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1991): "A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago" (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
* (2003): "Birds of Venezuela". Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
* (1989): "A guide to the birds of Costa Rica". Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4