About Lophotriccus pileatus (Tschudi, 1844)
The scale-crested pygmy tyrant (scientific name Lophotriccus pileatus (Tschudi, 1844)) measures 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long and weighs approximately 7 to 8 g (0.25 to 0.28 oz). It has long crown feathers that form its namesake crest, which the species sometimes erects and fans out. Females have a smaller crest than males, but the two sexes have identical plumage otherwise. Adults of the nominate subspecies L. p. pileatus have a black crest with rufous feather edges. They have whitish lores on an otherwise brownish face. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are olive. Their wings are dusky, with yellow edges on the flight feathers and buffy tips on the coverts; the buffy tips form two distinct wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat and upper breast are white with blurry dusky to olive streaks. The rest of their underparts have a light yellow wash, with a pale olive wash on the flanks. They have a yellow iris, a gray bill, and pinkish legs and feet. Other subspecies differ from the nominate and from each other as follows: L. p. luteiventris has a brown crown with rufous edges, olive-green edges on primaries, yellowish white edges on secondaries and tertials, grayish white to olive green tips on wing coverts, and an orange-yellow to yellow iris with a reddish rim. L. p. santaeluciae has olive edges on flight and tail feathers, yellowish tips on wing coverts, and yellowish white to pale yellow breast and throat with blurry olive gray streaks. L. p. squamaecrista has greenish edges on wing coverts that form faint wing bars, wider and darker streaks on the throat and breast, and paler yellowish flanks than the nominate subspecies. L. p. hypochlorus has deeper yellow underparts than the nominate, with a greenish tinge on the breast and flanks and a bright yellow belly. The scale-crested pygmy tyrant has a disjunct distribution, with subspecies occupying separate ranges as follows: L. p. luteiventris occurs along the full length of Costa Rica's Caribbean slope, and on Costa Rica's Pacific slope from San José Province south through Panama to eastern Darién Province; there are also a few records from northern Nicaragua and sight records from eastern Honduras. L. p. santaeluciae is found in Serranía del Perijá, which straddles the Colombia-Venezuela border, and in northwestern and northern Venezuela from Táchira to Anzoátegui. L. p. squamaecrista occurs in the Andes of Colombia, continuing south along the western slope through Ecuador. L. p. pileatus is found on the eastern slope of the Andes through Ecuador into Peru, as far south as Junín Department. L. p. hypochlorus occurs in Peru from Cuzco Department south to Puno Department, and also in Bolivia. The scale-crested pygmy tyrant inhabits humid to wet forest and mature secondary forest; it also occurs at forest edges and in gaps such as those created by fallen trees. Its elevation range varies by region: in Costa Rica it ranges between 300 and 1,700 m (1,000 and 5,600 ft) on the Caribbean slope, and between 750 and 1,700 m (2,500 and 5,600 ft) on the Pacific slope; in Colombia it ranges from near sea level to 2,900 m (9,500 ft); in western Ecuador it ranges from sea level to 1,700 m (5,600 ft); in eastern Ecuador it ranges between 700 and 1,700 m (2,300 and 5,600 ft); in Peru it occurs mostly between 700 and 2,100 m (2,300 and 6,900 ft), but extends as low as 400 m (1,300 ft) in the northwest; in Venezuela it occurs mostly between 450 and 2,000 m (1,500 and 6,600 ft), and rarely extends to near sea level.
