Dusky Piha

The dusky piha is the largest member and has the longest tail of genus Lipaugus. They are 31 to 33 cm (12 to 13 in) long and weigh 120 to 138 g (4.2 to 4.9 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have medium gray upperparts and duskier gray wings and tail. Their underparts are paler gray with a brownish wash on the breast and belly. They have a dark brown iris, a dark brown or blackish bill with a paler base to the mandible, and gray legs and feet. Immatures have rufous tips on the wing coverts.

The dusky piha is a bird of the Andes. It is found along all three ranges of the Colombian Andes and south along the eastern slope through Ecuador slightly into far northern Peru north of the Marañón River valley. It inhabits the canopy and edges of montane forest and mature secondary forest in the subtropical and temperate zones. In elevation it ranges between 1,800 and 3,100 m (5,900 and 10,200 ft) in Colombia, between 1,700 and 2,600 m (5,600 and 8,500 ft) in Ecuador, and between 2,125 and 2,250 m (7,000 and 7,400 ft) in Peru.

The dusky piha is known to feed on fruit and probably eats insects as well. It usually forages in small groups that regularly join mixed-species feeding flocks. It plucks fruit with a brief sally from a perch.