Scrub Greenlet
Encyclopedia
The Scrub Greenlet or Scrub Vireo, Hylophilus flavipes, is a small passerine
bird
in the vireo
family. It breeds in Costa Rica
, Panama
, Colombia
, Venezuela
and Tobago
.
It is a bird of forest edges and savanna which builds a deep cup nest suspended from a tree branch. The typical clutch is three white eggs, which are marked with brown.
The adult Scrub Greenlet is 11.5 cm long and weighs 13 g. It is mainly green on the upperparts, with brighter wings and rump, and an olive-brown head with very weak supercilium and yellowish eyering. The underparts are yellow, the bill is mainly dark and the legs are pale. The call is a long series of notes, weary-weary-weary-weary, interspersed with churrs and squeaks.
The race H. f. insularis is a large, strong-billed form with a brown iris endemic
to Tobago
. Other races differ in underpart tone.
Scrub Greenlets feed on insect
s and spider
s taken from the upper and middle levels of tree foliage. They also eat berries
, especially before migration.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the vireo
Vireo
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling wood warblers apart from their heavier bills...
family. It breeds in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
.
It is a bird of forest edges and savanna which builds a deep cup nest suspended from a tree branch. The typical clutch is three white eggs, which are marked with brown.
The adult Scrub Greenlet is 11.5 cm long and weighs 13 g. It is mainly green on the upperparts, with brighter wings and rump, and an olive-brown head with very weak supercilium and yellowish eyering. The underparts are yellow, the bill is mainly dark and the legs are pale. The call is a long series of notes, weary-weary-weary-weary, interspersed with churrs and squeaks.
The race H. f. insularis is a large, strong-billed form with a brown iris endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
. Other races differ in underpart tone.
Scrub Greenlets feed on insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s taken from the upper and middle levels of tree foliage. They also eat berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, especially before migration.