Spotted Tody-Flycatcher

The spotted tody-flycatcher is 8.9 to 10.2 cm (3.5 to 4.0 in) long and weighs 6.4 to 8.3 g (0.23 to 0.29 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies T. m. maculatum have a mostly gray head with a small white spot above the lores and some black and white streaks on the crown. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are olive. Their wings are brownish black with yellow edges on the flight feathers and yellowish edges and tips on the coverts; the last sometimes show as pale wing bars. Their tail is brownish black with yellow-white edges on the outer webs of the outer feathers. Their throat and upper breast are white with narrow black streaks. Their belly is mostly yellow with dark olive streaks on the sides. Immatures are very like adults but with thinner and lighter streaks. Subspecies T. m. amacurense and T. m. signatum have sooty-black crowns but are otherwise like the nominate. T. m. diversum and T. m. annectens have the same plumage as the nominate. Both sexes of all subspecies usually have a yellowish orange iris though sometimes gray or brown. They have a black bill with some white on the mandible and pinkish gray legs and feet.

The spotted tody-flycatcher is a bird of the Amazon Basin and coastal northern South America. Its range circles but does not include the Guiana Shield. The subspecies are found thus:

T. m. amacurense: Trinidad, northeastern Venezuela from Sucre to Delta Amacuro, and into northern Guyana T. m. maculatum: Suriname, French Guiana, and in northeastern Brazil's Amapá, eastern Pará, and northern Maranhão states east of the Xingu River T. m. signatum: from southeastern Colombia's Caquetá and Putumayo departments south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northwestern Bolivia and east from them into the western parts of Amazonas and Rondônia in western Brazil T. m. diversum: central Brazil north of the Amazon between the Negro and Nhamundá rivers and south of the Amazon from the Tefé River east to the Tapajos River T. m. annectens: northern Brazil from the Branco River and northeastern Amazonas south to where the Negro meets the Amazon. The spotted tody-flycatcher primarily inhabits wet landscapes such as mangroves along the northern coast, and in the interior in dense thickets along oxbow lakes, small and medium-size watercourses, and major rivers and their islands. It also occurs in somewhat more open shrubby areas such as clearings in the forest and abandoned pastures, and has also been found in household gardens and in grassy areas with young Cecropia. …

The spotted tody-flycatcher feeds on arthropods, though details are lacking. It typically forages in pairs and has not been observed to join mixed-species feeding flocks. It mostly forages in dense vegetation near the ground but sometimes ascends higher. It primarily takes prey from foliage, vines, and branches with short upward sallies from a perch.