Cinereous Conebill Conirostrum cinereum

Cinereous Conebill Conirostrum cinereum

Chilean name: Comesebo chico

Cinereous Conebill, Lluta Valley, near Arica, Chile, February 2007 - click for larger image

Chile and Ecuador

The Cinereous Conebill is distributed in the Andes of south-west Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northern Chile and north-west Bolivia. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is usually found at between 2,500 and 4,000 metres but the sub-species C. c. littorale, shown here in photos 1 to 3, is also found down to sea-level in Chile and Peru. It inhabits shrubby areas, gardens and scrub.

The nominate sub-species is grey overall with a white supercilium and blackish wings with an L-shaped wing-patch. Below it is pale grey becoming buffier on the belly.

The sub-species in photos 1 to 3 is olive-grey above and buffy below without any grey.

BirdLife International and the HBW have split this species so that the northern population in Ecuador, the sub-species C. c. fraseri, is treated as a species - Ochraceous Conebill C. fraseri. This would be the species shown in photos 4 to 6.

Cinereous Conebill, Papallacta Pass, Napo, Ecuador, November 2019 - click for larger image

Cinereous Conebill, Antisana Reserve, Napo, Ecuador, November 2019 - click for larger image

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