The brown-headed greenlet (Hylophilus brunneiceps) is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.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. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved September 29, 2025
Taxonomy and systematics
The brown-headed greenlet is monotypic. However, what is now the inornata subspecies of the dusky-capped greenlet (Pachysylvia hypoxantha) was previously treated as a subspecies of it.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
Description
The brown-headed greenlet is about long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a brown or dull sepia crown with a slight yellowish wash. Their face is dull brownish. Their upperparts and tail are olive-green. Their wing's primaries and secondaries are dark grayish with thin greenish olive edges on their outer webs. Their throat and upper breast are dirty white with an olive-buff tinge. Their lower breast and belly are gray-white, their flanks yellowish, and their vent pale greenish yellow. They have a gray or whitish iris, a brown maxilla, a pinkish mandible, and pink legs and feet.Brewer, D. (2020). Brown-headed Greenlet (Hylophilus brunneiceps), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.brhgre1.01 retrieved November 17, 2025
Distribution and habitat
The brown-head greenlet is found from eastern Colombia east across most of southern Venezuela's Amazonas state and southeast into Brazil to the Negro River near Manaus. It inhabits scrubby low-stature forest on sandy soils, woodlands in savanna, blackwater river areas, and the edges of várzea forest. In elevation it reaches in Brazil and Colombia and at least in Venezuela.
Behavior Movement
The brown-headed greenlet is apparently a sedentary year-round resident.
Feeding
The brown-headed greenlet's diet has not been detailed but is known to include caterpillars and adult insects. It forages in pairs and family groups and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It takes food while actively foraging among leaves, sometimes hanging upside-down to reach it, and also sometimes briefly hovers to capture it from the undersides of leaves. It typically forages between about above the ground.
Breeding
Nothing is known about the brown-headed greenlet's breeding biology.
Vocalization
The brown-headed greenlet's song is a "high, warbling weet-oh-weeréet". When agitated it makes "a series of twitters, then 4–5 soft notes and a louder, descending series of notes, much repeated".
Status
The IUCN has assessed the brown-headed greenlet as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered "frequent to uncommon" in Brazil and uncommon in Colombia and Venezuela.
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