Crested Becard

The crested becard is 17 to 18.5 cm (6.7 to 7.3 in) long. The species is sexually dimorphic. Though its crown is somewhat shaggy it does not have an obvious raised crest. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a mostly dark grayish to almost black crown, upperparts, wings, and tail with a partially hidden white patch on the back and some white on the scapulars. They have a smoky gray spot above the lores on an otherwise grayish face. Their throat is whitish gray and their underparts pale smoky grayish with a cinnamon tinge. Adult females have a dark grayish brown crown and a bright rufous nape. They have a buff-grayish spot above the lores on an otherwise cinnamon face. Their upperparts and tail are bright rufous. Their wings are mostly dusky with thin rufous edges on the primaries and fully rufous inner flight feathers. Their throat is yellowish cinnamon and their underparts dull buffy cinnamon. Males of subspecies P. v. audax have little or no cinnamon tinge on their underparts and a more grayish white throat and darker wings than the nominate. Females have a more sooty crown, darker wings with duskier inner flight feathers, and darker underparts than the nominate. Both sexes of both subspecies have a dark brown iris, a black maxilla, a medium gray mandible, and dark gray legs and feet.

Subspecies P. v. audax of the crested becard is the more westerly of the two. It is found in the southern Peruvian departments of Junín, Ayacucho, and Cuzco. Its range continues through northwestern, central, and southern Bolivia and south into northwestern Argentina as far as Córdoba Province. The nominate is found in Brazil south and east of a rough line Rondônia - Tocantins - northeastern Pará. Its range continues south in Brazil to northern Rio Grande do Sul and across eastern Bolivia and Paraguay into northeastern Argentina to Santa Fe Province. The nominate also reaches extreme southeastern Peru as a rare austral migrant. There is a single unconfirmed record in extreme southern Ecuador that is tentatively assigned to P. v. audax. The South American Classification Committee does not recognize the record. The crested becard inhabits semi-arid to semi-humid woodlands and montane forest. It favors the forest canopy and edges, and also wet ravines. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in Brazil and between 1,700 and 3,400 m (5,600 and 11,200 ft) in Peru.

The crested becard feeds mostly on large insects. It usually forages singly and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks.