User:MeegsC/Articles/Rufous-brown Solitaire

The rufous-brown solitaire (Cichlopsis leucogenys) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Taxonomy and systematics
German ornithologist Jean Cabanis first described the rufous-brown solitaire in 1851, from a specimen collected in Brazil. It was originally thought to be closely related to solitaires in the genus Myadestes, and some taxonomists included it in that genus as recently as the late 1980s. However, though these genera are morphologically similar, genetic studies have since shown they are only distantly related. Instead, those studies show that Cichlopsis is most closely related to the solitaires of the genus Entomodestes, and that both of these genera fit comfortably into a New World thrush clade also comprised of Catharus, Hylocichla, Ridgwayia and Ixoreus.

There are four subspecies, which are quite similar in appearance, but disjunct in population — sometimes by considerable distances. Some authorities, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and BirdLife International, consider the subspecies to be distinct species.
 * C. l. leucogenys, the nominate subspecies described by Cabanis in 1851, is found only in the states of Bahia, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais in eastern Brazil. Some authorities consider this to be the only rufous-brown solitaire.
 * C. l. gularis, described in 1882 by English ornithologists Osbert Salvin and Frederick DuCane Godman, is found in several disjunct populations from southeastern Venezuela to Suriname. Some authorities consider it to be a distinct species, the Guianan solitaire.
 * C. l. chubbi, described by American ornithologist Frank Chapman in 1924, is found on the western slopes of the Andes in southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Some authorities consider it to be a distinct species, the chestnut-throated solitaire.
 * C. l. peruvianus, described by Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr in 1930, is found only on the eastern slopes of the Andes in central Peru, in the departments of Huánuco, Pasco, and Junín. Some authorities consider it to be a distinct species, the Peruvian solitaire.

The genus name Cichlopsis comes from the κίχλη, meaning "thrush" and the ὄψισ, meaning "look" or "appearance". The species name leucogenys derives from the Greek leukos meaning "white" and genus meaning "cheek". Solitaires get their name from their solitary habits.


 * EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES IN DESCRIPTION DATES – 1850 vs 1851
 * HAS ITS SCIENTIFIC NAME CHANGED? IF SO, WHAT WERE OTHERS?
 * WAS IT SPLIT INTO A DIFFERENT GENUS BASED ON MORPHOLOGY? IF SO, WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES THAT LED TO THIS?


 * ADD THE (MANY) SYNONYMS TO TAXOBOX.

Description
The rufous-brown solitaire is a medium-sized thrush, measuring 20 – in length, and weighing 45 –. The sexes are alike in appearance. Slender and long-tailed, the bird is rufous-brown overall, darkest on the upperparts with a paler cinnamon to rufous throat, a pale gray-brown belly, and buff to pale orangish undertail coverts. The outer feathers of its rufescent brown tail are edged with paler rufous. It is quite plain, with little in the way of field marks. Males show a narrow and inconspicuous yellow eye-ring, which is lacking in females. The small, bicolored bill is dark gray to black on the upper mandible and pale yellow to orange on the lower mandible.


 * LEGS? EYES? BILL SHAPE? REMEMBER TO MENTION SHORT LEGS.
 * CHECK THRUSHES book, plus FGs to Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela; also HBW & general SA tomes
 * IS WINGSPAN AVAILABLE?

Similar species
Some female Turdus thrushes are similarly plumaged, but they are larger and stockier, with streaked throats, and undertail coverts which are similar in color the rest of their plumage. Rufous piha and rufous mourner are other potential confusion species which are found in similar habitats.


 * FG to SURINAME and FG to VENEZUELA list female Turdus thrushes.

Voice
The rufous-brown solitaire is heard much more frequently than seen. It sings primarily in the early morning, and only seasonally, principally during the rainy season. Its song, which is less musical and less complex than that of other solitaires, is short, varied, and often loud, given at brief intervals. Bursts of song are interspersed with short pauses, and song phrases are varied and not soon repeated. The bird sings from a concealed perch at low to medium height, often raising or fluttering its wings while singing.

The song of C. l. gularis, the subspecies in Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, is described as squeaky and chattery, with a complex mix of chips, buzzes, and trills interspersed with more melodic elements. Its call is a faint, high-pitched "eeeeeee", given at 3–5 second intervals for as much as a minute or more. The song of C. l. chubbi, the subspecies in Colombia and Ecuador, is a short series of sweet whistles and warbles, transcribed by one source as fu-fwee-yerr-twidl'dee-dee. Its descending call is high-pitched and slightly trilled, transcribed in one source as "tseeeeu". The song of the Brazilian subspecies, C. l. leucogenys is a complex 2 to 3-second burst of sounds: quick, repeated sounds like an inhaled "fff", single "tjuw" and "tjeeh" notes, very high-pitched "see" notes and various trills and rattles followed by a 1-1.5 second pause before the next completely different arrangement of notes. Its high-pitched calls are variously described as a hissing "tsueeee", a weak, penetrating "tsrreeeee" and a loud whistled "sueeeet". The songs and calls of Peru's C. l. peruviana are unknown.

Habitat and range
The rufous-brown solitaire is thought to be an uncommon to rare breeding resident throughout its range. However, given that it occasionally becomes common for short periods of time in parts of Venezuela, it may undergo short-distance seasonal or elevational movements.

In Suriname, it is thought to be a breeding resident. There, it is uncommon, known only from the Wilhelmina and Tafelberg Mountains in the Sipaliwini District, where it occurs in dry highland forests above 500 m. In Guyana, it is restricted to the tepuis of the country's northwest, though it has also been recorded once in the Iwokrama Mountains. In Peru, it is known from only four localities: Cerros del Sira in the eastern Andes, near the Perené River in Junín Province, on Abra Aguachine, and at Cacazu; the elevations at which it has been found in Peru range from 690 to 1570 m asl. In Ecuador, where it is rare to locally uncommon, it is resident in humid foothills and subtropical forest of the country's northwest, at elevations ranging from 600 to 1500 m. In Venezuela, it is a rare to uncommon resident in mountains and tepuis in southeastern Bolívar at elevations ranging from 900 to 1450 m asl. It occurs in wet and humid forests, and dense secondary growth, often venturing to forest edge to feed at fruiting melastomes. In Brazil, it is resident primarily in the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, with a very few records in neighboring Minas Gerais. It occurs in a narrow slice of the Atlantic Forest in both primary and advanced second-growth forest, generally at elevations between 500 and 700 m; however, it has been recorded at elevations as low as 45 m, and may be less restricted to mountain environments than are other subspecies.


 * COLOMBIA? WHAT HABITATS? RESIDENT OR MIGRANT?

Behavior
The rufous-brown solitaire is generally a solitary bird. It is strictly arboreal, spending most of its time at mid-level or higher in the forest interior. It alternates between quiet rest and active foraging, with the latter most frequent when mixed flocks containing frugivores, such as tanagers and manakins, are present. It tends to perch more uprightly than do similarly-plumaged female Turdus thrushes, but more horizontally than do the Myadestes solitaires. It is shy and rarely encountered away from fruiting trees.

Feeding
It feeds at fruiting trees and shrubs, particularly those in the family Melastomataceae. It plucks fruits either from a perched position or from the air in short, sallying flights. It forages primarily in the undergrowth and sometimes in leaf litter on the ground.

Breeding
Almost nothing is known about the rufous-brown solitaire's breeding biology. Its nest, based on the single one ever found, is cup-shaped and built well off the ground in the fork of a tree.

Conservation and threats
All subspecies of the rufous-brown solitaire are declining; the IUCN considers three subspecies to be near threatened and the fourth to be endangered. Among the primary threats they face is the degradation and loss of their forest habitat, as growing human populations expand and deforestation results. Small and large-scale logging, and the conversion of forest to agricultural use also affect them.

Check these refs

 * https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32272087#page/642/mode/1up
 * https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/113779#page/15/mode/1up
 * https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47632#page/50/mode/1up
 * https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47632#page/433/mode/1up
 * https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47632#page/449/mode/1up
 * https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v090n02/p0394-p0410.pdf