White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant

The white-bellied pygmy tyrant is about 7 cm (2.8 in) long and weighs about 5 to 6 g (0.18 to 0.21 oz). It is a very small, large-headed bird. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a buff whitish area surrounding the eye with a grayish crescent behind the ear coverts. Their crown is bright olive with a brown tinge and their back and rump are bright olive. Their wings are dusky with bright olive-yellow edges on the flight feathers and tips of the coverts; the latter show as two indistinct wing bars. Their tail is dusky. Their throat and upper breast are whitish with faint gray streaks and the rest of their underparts are white with a tinge of yellowish olive on the sides and crissum. They have a reddish iris, a blackish bill, and pinkish legs and feet.

The white-bellied pygmy tyrant is found intermittently along the eastern slope of the Andes from extreme southeastern Zamora-Chinchipe Province in southern Ecuador south through Peru and central Bolivia as far as western Santa Cruz Department. Especially in Peru it extends from the slope eastward along outlying ridges. It inhabits humid montane forest, where it favors edges and gaps such as those caused by fallen trees. It also is partial to vine tangles. In elevation it ranges from 350 to 1,200 m (1,100 to 3,900 ft) overall but only up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Peru.

The white-bellied pygmy tyrant feeds on insects. It mostly forages in the vegetation's lower and middle levels, taking prey using short upward sallies from a perch to grab it from leaves.