Black-faced solitaire

Myadestes melanops

The black-faced solitaire (Myadestes melanops) is a bird in the thrush family endemic to highlands in Costa Rica and western Panama.

Family: Turdidae Order: passerines Conservation: Least Concern

About the Black-faced solitaire

The black-faced solitaire (Myadestes melanops) is a bird in the thrush family endemic to highlands in Costa Rica and western Panama. This is a bird of dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps in wet mountain forest, normally from 750 to 3,000 m (2,460 to 9,840 ft) altitude. It disperses as low as 400 m (1,300 ft) in the wet season, when it may form loose flocks. It builds a cup nest of mosses and liverworts in a tree crevice, hole in a mossy bank, or concealed amongst mosses and epiphytes in a tree fork up to 3.5 m (11 ft) above the ground. The female lays two or three rufous-brown marked white or pinkish eggs between April and June. The fledging period is 15–16 days. The black-faced solitaire is a slim thrush, 16–18.5 cm (6.3–7.3 in) long, and weighing 33 g (1.2 oz) on average. The adult is sl

Fun Facts About Black-faced solitaire

While the extremely slow song is of a wonderfully pure, ethereal color in nature, when held in a cage the sound leads to it commonly being called "squeaky hinge bird".
It disperses as low as 400 m (1,300 ft) in the wet season, when it may form loose flocks.
It builds a cup nest of mosses and liverworts in a tree crevice, hole in a mossy bank, or concealed amongst mosses and epiphytes in a tree fork up to 3.5 m (11 ft) above the ground.
This is a bird of dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps in wet mountain forest, normally from 750 to 3,000 m (2,460 to 9,840 ft) altitude.
The black-faced solitaire remains common in protected and inaccessible areas, but trapping of this prized songster for the cage-bird trade has badly affected its numbers elsewhere.

Conservation Status

The Black-faced solitaire is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. This species is currently stable and not at significant risk of population decline.

View on IUCN Red List →

Taxonomy & Classification

Order	passerines
Family	Turdidae
Genus	Myadestes
Species	Myadestes melanops

Range & Habitat