Cocos Flycatcher

About the Cocos Flycatcher

The Cocos tyrannulet (Nesotriccus ridgwayi), also known as the Cocos flycatcher, is a vulnerable species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is endemic to Cocos Island off Costa Rica.

The Cocos tyrannulet is treated as a monotypic species. However, a study published in 2016 contends that it should be treated as a subspecies of what was then the mouse-colored tyrannulet. That species has since been split into the northern mouse-colored tyrannulet (N. incomtus) and southern mouse-colored tyrannulet (N. murinus).

The Cocos tyrannulet is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a grayish olive to dark brownish olive crown, a slightly paler supercilium and cheeks, and a thin dark line through the eye. Their upperparts are grayish olive to dark brownish olive. Their wings are dusky with dull yellowish buff edges on the flight feathers and tips on the coverts; the latter show as two wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat and underparts are pale yellowish with a brownish to olive wash on the breast. Both sexes have a dark brown iris... Wikipedia →