White-eared Solitaire

The white-eared solitaire is 22 to 24 cm (8.7 to 9.4 in) long and weighs about 58 g (2.0 oz). Adult males have a large white patch from their bill through their ear coverts on an otherwise black head. They have a rich chestnut nape and upperparts with some white in the carpal area. Their wing coverts are rich chestnut and their flight feathers blackish with a wide white bar on the underside. Their tail is mostly blackish with white on the ends of the outer feathers. Their underparts are black. Adult females have a browner crown than males and some brown on their underparts. Both sexes have a red to brown iris, a black maxilla, a yellow mandible, and blackish legs and feet. Juveniles are duller overall than adults with a rufous crown and browner underparts.

The white-eared solitaire is found on the eastern slope of the Andes from central Amazonas Department in northern Peru south into Bolivia as far as central Santa Cruz Department. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane forest and cloudforest. Overall it ranges in elevation mostly from 1,500 to 2,800 m (4,900 to 9,200 ft) but in Peru is found from 1,200 to 2,900 m (3,900 to 9,500 ft).

The white-eared solitaire feeds on fruits, insects, and seeds. It forages mostly in the forest's middle strata. It sometimes forages in loose groups and joins mixed-species feeding flocks.