Dusky Chlorospingus

The dusky chlorospingus is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 17 to 23 g (0.60 to 0.81 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark gray crown and face with sometimes a tiny white spot behind the eye. Their nape, upperparts, and tail are dark olive. Their flight feathers are dusky with yellowish olive edges except on the tertials, which are mostly dark olive. Their throat and underparts are mostly brownish gray. Their breast, flanks, and undertail coverts have an olive tinge. Both sexes have a light reddish brown to dark brownish red iris, a blackish bill, and dark gray to legs and feet. Subspecies C. s. livingstoni is darker overall than the nominate. Its head is more smoky gray, its upperparts are more smoky olive, and its underparts have less of a brownish tinge. It has a yellowish white iris. The head and upperparts of C. s. xanthothorax are similar to the nominate's. It has a greenish yellow breast, flanks, and undertail coverts and an orange-red iris.

Subspecies C. s. livingstoni of the dusky chlorospingus is the northernmost. It is found on the western slope of Colombia's Western Andes from southern Chocó Department south to Cauca Department in the far southwest. The nominate is found on the Pacific slope of the Andes from Nariño Department in the southwestern corner of Colombia south to west-central Ecuador's Cotopaxi Province. C. s. xanthothorax is found in southwestern Ecuador's El Oro and adjacent Loja provinces. Note that the map does not include the range of C. s. xanthothorax. The dusky chlorospingus inhabits wet montane forest in the foothills and subtropical zone where it favors foggy areas heavy with epiphytes. In elevation it ranges between 1,200 and 2,400 m (3,900 and 7,900 ft) in Colombia and mostly between 1,200 and 2,200 m (3,900 and 7,200 ft) in Ecuador.

The dusky chlorospingus feeds on insects, berries, and small fruits. It typically forages in pairs and groups of up to about 20 individuals and regularly, but not exclusively, joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages mostly in the understory of the forest's interior but will do so at the forest edge. It takes most food while hopping along branches and stopping to glean while perched.