Bird Guide

Northern Bentbill vs Southern Bentbill

Northern Bentbill (Oncostoma cinereigulare)

Northern Bentbill

Oncostoma cinereigulare

Tiny6 gForest

The northern bentbill is 9.5 to 10.5 cm (3.7 to 4.1 in) long and weighs about 4.5 to 7 g (0.16 to 0.25 oz). It has a distinctive fairly thick downcurved bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly pale gray head whose crown is slightly darker. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are olive. Their wings are dusky with lemon yellow edges on the flight feathers and tips on the coverts; the latter show as two wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat and breast are pale gray with olive streaks and their belly pale lemon-yellow with an olive wash on the flanks. Voice: The northern bentbill's calls are "a rapid toad-like trill, turrrrrrrrrrr...a trilling prrrr're'e'e'eat!...a single turp!...an a turp!-purrrrrrrrr".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Tommy Andriollo · CC BY 4.0
Southern Bentbill (Oncostoma olivaceum)

Southern Bentbill

Oncostoma olivaceum

Tiny7 gForest

The southern bentbill is about 9 cm (3.5 in) long and weighs about 6 to 7 g (0.21 to 0.25 oz). It has a distinctive fairly thick downcurved bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly olive head with a whitish area above the lores. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are olive. Their wings are dusky with lemon yellow edges on the flight feathers and greenish yellow tips on the coverts; the latter show as two indistinct wing bars. Their tail is dusky olive. Voice: The southern bentbill's call is a "uttural insect-like or toad-like trill, 'grrrrrrr' " that sometimes begins with a short note yielding "pt-trrrrrrrr". Another author says that a "oft mechanical errreet heard often".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Southern Bentbill
Recorded by radrat · Call · Corregimiento de Cristóbal (near Gamboa), Colón, Colón Province, Panama · CC0
Photo: Melissa McMasters from Memphis, TN, United States · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Northern Bentbill and Southern Bentbill.