Common Tody-Flycatcher Gallery

Todirostrum cinereum

The Birds of the World website provides this introductory information about the Common Tody-Flycatcher:  The Common Tody-Flycatcher is a common and widespread species of secondary forest and forest edge; it is distributed from southern Mexico to south to northeastern Argentina, but is absent from much of the Amazon Basin.  Male Common Tody-Flycatchers have glossy black forecrowns, slate gray hindcrowns, olive upperparts, black wings and bright yellow underparts; the iris usually is yellow.  Common Tody-Flycatchers forage in pairs or small family groups in dense vegetation close to the ground or in the open mid-level canopy of trees. They catch prey by gleaning or in short forward and upward sallies, always catching prey with an audible snap.  Like other species of tody-tyrant, the Common Tody-Flycatcher builds a hanging pouch shaped nests 1 to 5 m off the ground made out of plant material and bound with spiderweb.

I saw and photographed my first Common Tody-Flycatcher on the morning of August 21, 2023 at Parque Mãe Bonifácia in Cuiabá, Brazil. I had a free day from tour activities, so I went to the park by myself and spent the morning walking the trails and looking for birds. A flash of bright yellow brought the Common Tody-Flycatcher to my attention.  For a more detailed description of the trip that included my sighting of this bird look at this blog post.  Here are some of my photos of this little bird.