Masked Gnatcatcher (Polioptila dumicola)
Female Masked Gnatcatcher, Caseara, Tocantins, Brazil, January 2002 - click for larger image Brazil

The Masked Gnatcatcher is found from south-east Pará to northern Argentina where it inhabits light woodland, gallery woodland and scrub such as the chaco where it is quite common.

Male Masked Gnatcatcher, Barra do Quaraí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image The nominate sub-species is blue-grey above and a lighter grey below with blackish wings edged white. The tail is black with white outer feathers. The male, shown here in photos 2 and 3, has a black mask bordered below by a thin white line while the female, photo 4, has a much narrower black area, a white eyering and whitish cheeks and lores.
Male Masked Gnatcatcher, Barra do Quaraí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image The first photo is a female of the subspecies P. d. berlepschi, a race which is paler grey above and almost white below while the male has a much narrower mask than the nominate race found further south. There is a possibility that two species may be involved.

There is an illustration in Ridgely & Tudor, Volume 1, Plate 4.

Female Masked Gnatcatcher, Barra do Quaraí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image
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