Bird Guide

Plain Antvireo vs Spot-crowned Antvireo

Plain Antvireo (Dysithamnus mentalis)

Plain Antvireo

Dysithamnus mentalis

Tiny15 gForest

The plain antvireo is 10 to 13 cm (3.9 to 5.1 in) long and weighs 12 to 16 g (0.42 to 0.56 oz). It is a rather chunky bird with a large head and short tail. Adult males of the nominate subspecies D. m. mentalis have a dark gray forehead and crown and blackish ear coverts. Their upperparts are grayish olive with a hidden white patch between the scapulars. Their wings are dark grayish olive with olive edges on the flight feathers, white tips on the grayish olive greater coverts, blackish median coverts with white tips, and blackish lesser coverts. Voice: The plain antvireo's song is generally a "short...series starting with a few...evenly paced, countable notes at same pitch, notes then gradually becoming more abrupt and dropping in pitch, ending in accelerating roll". Authors have described it as a "high nasal watje watjwatwaturururu sounding as a rattle" and as "a nasal barking series...weu-weu-weu-Weu-Weu-Weu-Weu-Weu'weu'wru'weu'u'u'u".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Plain Antvireo
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Napo: km 11.6 Narupa-Loreto road, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: rodrigo_lazaro · CC BY 4.0
Spot-crowned Antvireo (Dysithamnus puncticeps)

Spot-crowned Antvireo

Dysithamnus puncticeps

Tiny15 gForest

The spot-crowned antvireo is 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 15 to 17 g (0.53 to 0.60 oz). Adult males have a dark gray forehead, crown, and nape heavily marked with white spots. Their ear coverts are grayish. Their upperparts are grayish olive with a hidden white patch between the scapulars. Their flight feathers are dark grayish olive with wide buffy grayish edges; their wing coverts are blackish with white tips. Their tail is dark grayish olive with white tips on the feathers. Voice: The spot-crowned antvireo's song is "a rapid...trill, notes not countable, pitch first rising slightly, falling slightly terminally, pace constant initially, then accelerating slightly towards end". Its calls include a "short descending 'chirr' ".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Spot-crowned Antvireo
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Duet · Esmeraldas: El Placer, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: yongestation · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Plain Antvireo and Spot-crowned Antvireo.