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Golden-browed Chlorophonia | Chlorophonia callophrys
Goudbrauworganist | Clorofonia cejidorada
The Golden-browed Chlorophonia is a stocky, bright green chlorophonia of the montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. The male stands out by the golden-yellow supercilium below a blue crown. It feeds on small fruits, especially mistletoe berries, and occurs only in the guide area.
Voice
A soft, plaintive, slightly falling whistle, peeuw, often repeated at intervals; also soft, nasal chirps. The whistle is often the first sign of its presence.
Recording: Beth Cottam — CC0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm. The male is bright grass-green on the head, back, throat and breast, with a blue crown and nape and a yellow forehead that continues into a broad golden-yellow supercilium. The belly is bright yellow and is separated from the green breast by a narrow dark line. The female is green with a blue crown and nape but no yellow supercilium, and has a greenish-yellow belly. Bill short, thick and dark.
Confusion species
Blue-crowned Chlorophonia Chlorophonia occipitalis lacks the yellow supercilium and lives from southern Mexico to Nicaragua, not in Costa Rica and Panama. The female may resemble green tanagers and females of other euphonias, but the blue crown and nape and the stocky, short-tailed shape are distinctive.
Habitat
Montane rainforest and cloud forest rich in epiphytes, forest edges, clearings with scattered trees and pastures with tall trees at the forest edge; mostly between about 1200 and 3000 m. Outside the breeding season partly lower, down into foothill forest. It eats mainly mistletoe berries and other small fruits, in pairs or small groups. The domed nest is hidden in moss or epiphytes.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Mountains of Costa Rica (Cordillera de Guanacaste, Cordillera de Tilarán, Cordillera Central and Cordillera de Talamanca) to western Panama (Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas). Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Regularly seen at Monteverde and San Gerardo de Dota in Costa Rica and on the slopes of Volcán Barú near Boquete in Panama. Watch fruiting trees and mistletoe at forest edges and listen for the soft whistle.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Fairly common in montane forest within its small range; dependent on the conservation of montane forest.
Scientific name
Chlorophonia callophrys | (Cabanis, 1861)
Cabanis described the species in 1861 as Triglyphidia callophrys; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlorophonia was introduced in 1851 by Bonaparte. Chlorophonia combines Greek khlōros 'green' with the genus name Euphonia, after the green plumage. callophrys is Greek, from kallos 'beauty' and ophrus 'eyebrow', after the golden-yellow brow. The specimen the first description was based on came from Costa Rica.