Pacific Flatbill

About the Pacific Flatbill

The Pacific flatbill (Rhynchocyclus pacificus) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. The Pacific flatbill was originally described in 1914 as Craspedoprion pacificus. It had been known to ornithologists but was believed to be conspecific with what is now the western olivaceous flatbill (Rhynchocyclus aequinoctialis). It was later treated by many authors as a subspecies of the eye-ringed flatbill (R. brevirostris) but by the mid-twentieth century was widely accepted as a full species. By the late twentieth century some taxonomists treated the Pacific and eye-ringed flatbills as a superspecies but later study showed that the Pacific flatbill is basal to all other members of Rhynchocyclus.

The Pacific flatbill is monotypic. The Pacific flatbill is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs 23.5 to 26.5 g (0.83 to 0.93 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark olive head with a faint gray eye-ring. Their upperparts are also dark olive. Their wings and tail are dusky brown with wide tawny-buff or ochre edges on the wing coverts. The wings have olive edges on the... Wikipedia →