Gray-capped Flycatcher

Myiozetetes granadensis

eBird describes the Gray-capped Flycatcher like this:  Medium-sized flycatcher with bright yellow belly. Head pattern not bold: overall gray with white throat and diffuse white forehead. Smaller with smaller bill than Tropical Kingbird. Similar to Social Flycatcher but lacks striped head pattern. Fairly common in second growth, forest edge, and gardens; often perches conspicuously. Usually seen singly or in pairs.

The Birds of the World website gives this basic information about this bird: The Gray-capped Flycatcher is a tyrant with a large range in Central and northern South America.  Found from Honduras south to the western portions of Colombia and Ecuador, the species also has a disjunct range east of the Andes which encompasses a huge swath of western Amazonia.  Gray-capped Flycatcher favors edge habitat in forest, especially near water, and is typically found below 1100 meters in elevation.  It is olive above with a gray head marked by a short, white superciliary, white throat, and yellow underparts.  The Gray-capped Flycatcher is highly vocal and can be detected by its sharp kip calls as well as a longer, kiskadee-like calls.

I saw my first Gray-capped Flycatcher during a pre-breakfast hike at La Selva on the early morning of Monday, February 6, 2023.  We were walking along a muddy road near our cabin when we spotted this bird perched briefly in a tree.  I was able to get a poor photo in the low light that was good enough for identification.  To see my blog post that includes the sighting of this bird, look here.  

I saw another Gray-capped Flycatcher early on the morning of February 10, 2023 on the grounds of Hotel  Villa Papas and was able to get a little better picture.  Here it is…