Barred becard

{{Speciesbox | name = Barred becard | image = Pachyramphus versicolor 70264620.jpg | image_caption = ''Pachyramphus versicolor'' observed in Peru | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2021 |title=Barred Becard ''Pachyramphus versicolor'' |volume=2021 |article-number=e.T22700638A137907287 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22700638A137907287.en |access-date=31 October 2025}}</ref> | genus = Pachyramphus | species = versicolor | authority = (Hartlaub, 1843) | range_map = Pachyramphus versicolor map.svg }}

The '''barred becard''' ('''''Pachyramphus versicolor''''') is a small passerine bird in the family Tityridae, the tityras, becards, and allies.<ref name=IOC15.1>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/cotingas/ |title=Cotingas, manakins, tityras, becards |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 15.1 | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=March 2025 |access-date=3 March 2025 }}</ref> It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, and in South America from Venezuela to Bolivia.<ref name=AOU1998>{{cite book | last = | first = | title =Check-list of North American Birds | publisher =American Ornithologists' Union |edition =7th | date =1998 | location =Washington, D.C. | pages =418 }}</ref>

==Taxonomy and systematics==

The barred becard was originally described in 1843 as ''Vireo versicolor''.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Hartlaub |first=Gustav | date= 1843 |title=Description de quatre espéces d'oiseaux de la Nouvelle-Grenade | journal=Revue zoologique | publisher=Société cuvierienne | page=289 |language=Latin |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2271324}}</ref> It was later reassigned to genus ''Pachyramphus'' that George Robert Gray had erected in 1840.<ref name=IOC15.1/> The genus has variously been assigned to the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae and the cotinga family Cotingidae. Several early twenty-first century studies confirmed the placement of ''Pachyramphus'' in Tityridae and taxonomic systems made the reassignment.<ref name=SACClist>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2025</ref> In 1998 the American Ornithological Society was unsure where to place the genus and listed its members as ''incertae sedis'' but in 2011 moved them to Tityridae.<ref name=52Supp>R. Terry Chesser, Richard C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union ''Check-list of North American Birds''". ''The Auk'' 2011, vol. 128:600–613 retrieved October 22, 2025</ref>

The barred becard has three subspecies, the nominate ''P. v. versicolor'' (Hartlaub, 1843), ''P. v. costaricensis'' (Bangs, 1908), and ''P. v. meridionalis'' (Carriker, 1934).<ref name=IOC15.1/>

==Description==

The barred becard is {{convert|12|to|13|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|14|to|17|g|oz|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. It is the smallest member of genus ''Pachyramphus''. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a glossy black crown and nape and greenish yellow lores and eye-ring. Their face is also greenish yellow. Their upperparts are mostly glossy black with a slate gray rump and uppertail coverts. Their wings are black with white edges on the greater coverts and remiges. Their scapulars and lesser and median coverts are white with black edges. Their tail is slate gray with white edges on the feathers. Their throat is greenish yellow that becomes white on the rest of the underparts; these colors are overlain with thin blackish bars. Adult females have a slate gray crown and nape and a yellow eye-ring; their face is a slightly more olive yellow than the male's. Their upperparts are olive green. Their wing coverts are rufous; their flight feathers are a darker rufous with buff edges on the tertials. Their tail is brownish gray. Their breast is more olive than the male's and becomes darker on the rest of the underparts. They have dusky bars that are fainter than the male's. The other two subspecies are essentially identical to the nominate. Both sexes of all subspecies have a black iris, a black maxilla, a bluish gray mandible, and gray legs and feet.<ref name=BABE-BOW>Whalen, N. (2020). Barred Becard (''Pachyramphus versicolor''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.barbec1.01 retrieved October 31, 2025</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==

The barred becard has a disjunct distribution. Subspecies ''P. v. costaricensis'' is the northernmost and has the smallest range of the three. It is found intermittently from the Tilarán Cordillera in Costa Rica's southern Alajuela Province south into western Panama's Chiriquí Province.<ref name=Garrigues>{{cite book |last1=Garrigues |first1=Richard |last2=Dean |first2=Robert |date=2007 |title=The Birds of Costa Rica |location=Ithaca |publisher=Zona Tropical/Comstock/Cornell University Press |pages=216–217 |isbn=978-0-8014-7373-9 }}</ref> The nominate subspecies is found in the Serranía del Perijá on the Colombia/Venezuela border and on the eastern slope of the Venezuelan Andes from Lara into Colombia. In Colombia it is found along both slopes of the Eastern Andes, from Norte de Santander Department south in the Central Andes, and south from Valle del Cauca Department in the Western Andes. From Colombia its distribution continues into the Andes of Ecuador, on the western slope to Chimborazo Province and on the eastern slope to Zamora-Chinchipe Province. ''P. v. meridionalis'' is found in Peru on the western Andean slope from Ecuador south to Cajamarca Department and on the eastern slope from southern Amazonas Department south to northern Puno Department. It also occurs at scattered locations in northwestern Bolivia.<ref name=BABE-BOW/>

The barred becard inhabits a variety of landscapes in the subtropical and lower temperate zones.<ref name=AOU1998/> These include cloudforest, elfin forest, and humid montane woodlands. It is found both in somewhat open forest and in scrubby ravines.<ref name=BABE-BOW/> In elevation it ranges between {{convert|1500|and|2300|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Costa Rica, between {{convert|2000|and|2900|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Venezuela, between {{convert|1500|and|2800|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Colombia, mostly between {{convert|1500|and|2600|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Ecuador, and mostly between {{convert|1500|and|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}} though locally as low as {{convert|1100|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Peru.<ref name=Garrigues/><ref name=Hilty>{{cite book | last =Hilty | first =Steven L. | title =Birds of Venezuela | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =second | date =2003 | location =Princeton NJ | pages =643 | language =English }}</ref><ref name=McMullan>{{cite book | last1 =McMullan | first1 =Miles | last2 =Donegan | first2 =Thomas M. | last3 =Quevedo | first3 =Alonso | title = Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia | publisher = Fundación ProAves| date =2010 | location =Bogotá | pages =175 |isbn =978-0-9827615-0-2 }}</ref><ref name=Ridgely2>{{cite book | last =Ridgely | first =Robert S. | last2 =Greenfield | first2 =Paul J. | title =The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide | publisher =Cornell University Press | volume = II| date =2001 | location =Ithaca | pages =535 | isbn =978-0-8014-8721-7 }}</ref><ref name=Schulenberg>{{cite book | last =Schulenberg | first =T.S. | last2 =Stotz | first2 =D.F. | last3 =Lane | first3 =D.F. | last4 =O'Neill | first4 =J.P. | last5 =Parker | first5 =T.A. III | title =Birds of Peru | publisher =Princeton University Press | edition =revised and updated |series=Princeton Field Guides | date =2010 | location =Princeton, NJ | pages =480 |isbn = 978-0691130231 }}</ref>

==Behavior== ===Movement===

The barred becard is a year-round resident.<ref name=AOU1998/>

===Feeding===

The barred becard feeds mostly on insects and also includes small fruits in its diet. It forages mostly from the forest's mid-story to the canopy though will go lower at the forest's edge. It forages singly, in pairs, and in family groups and joins for short time mixed-species feeding flocks. They take food while perched, while hopping along branches, with short sallies to grab it, and during brief hovers at the end of a sally.<ref name=BABE-BOW/>

===Breeding===

The barred becard's breeding season or seasons have not been determined but includes May and June in Costa Rica. Its nest is a globe made from moss, leaves, grass, bark, and lichens with a side entrance.<ref name=Skutch>{{ cite book | last=Skutch | first=Alexander F. | author-link=Alexander Skutch | date=1967 | chapter=Barred becard | title=Life Histories of Central American Highland Birds | series=Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club: Number 7 | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Nuttall Ornithological Club | pages=76–78 | chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57238661 | ref=none }}</ref> Most have been discovered in fairly open areas such as the forest edge, along rivers, and in pastures. They range between about {{convert|3|and|30|m|ft|round=5|abbr=on}} above the ground and are built by both sexes. The clutch is two eggs that are white with darker flecks.<ref name=BABE-BOW/> The incubation period and time to fledging are not known. Both parents provision nestlings.<ref name=BABE-BOW/><ref name=Skutch/>

{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Pachyramphus-versicolor |species=the barred becard}} ===Vocalization===

The barred becard's song has been described as a "rising or rising-falling, accelerating series of thin, high whistles: ''wur wee WEE-WEE’WEE’WEE-WEE''" and its calls as "thin, squeaky ''wsee'' notes in a chattered series".<ref name=Schulenberg/>

==Status==

The IUCN has assessed the barred becard as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range; its estimated population of at least 500,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.<ref name=IUCN/> It is considered "fairly uncommon" in Costa Rica, "uncommon to fairly common" in Venezuela, and "fairly common" in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.<ref name=Garrigues/><ref name=Hilty/><ref name=McMullan/><ref name=Ridgely2/><ref name=Schulenberg/> Their "preference towards disturbed land for nesting could suggest that their population as a whole would have at least some resistance towards the effects of deforestation".<ref name=BABE-BOW/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

barred becard Category:Birds of Costa Rica Category:Birds of the Northern Andes barred becard Category:Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub

Barred becard

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