Chapman's Bristle-Tyrant

Uncommon and local, restricted to a narrow montane band; not numerous and rather quiet, so a genuine effort bird. Very few photos/recordings exist in the public archives, underscoring how seldom it is documented.

Small (~12 cm, 7–8 g) active bristle-tyrant. Grizzled black-and-white face with a whitish supercilium and white eyering, a black line through the eye continuing as a crescent behind the ear-coverts; BROAD rufous-buff wingbars (key mark); olive above, pale yellowish-washed below. Lacks the gray crown shown by several Andean Pogonotriccus, and it is the only bristle-tyrant in the tepui region — so range plus broad buffy wingbars clinch it.

Humid montane forest and tall second growth on tepui slopes, mainly 1000–2000 m.

Restless; forages alone or in pairs at mid to upper levels and frequently rides mixed-species flocks, gleaning and making short flutter-sallies, often with cocked tail and wing-flicking typical of bristle-tyrants.

High, thin, slightly sputtering notes and a short rapid twitter typical of the genus, easily lost in flock chatter. Trainee search term: 'Chapman's Bristle-Tyrant Pogonotriccus chapmani' (also try the synonym 'Phylloscartes chapmani') on Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library; recordings are scarce, so download what exists before the trip.

Find the flock first — Chapman's almost always comes in with a mixed-species flock on the Escalera, so don't search for the bird, search for the flock and scan every small wing-barred tyrannulet. Tell clients to lock onto the BROAD rufous-buff wingbars + grizzled face to separate it from Black-fronted Tyrannulet.