Gray-eyed Greenlet Hylophilus amaurocephalus Scientific name definitions

The Gray-eyed Greenlet is almost endemic to Brazil and was long considered to be conspecific with the partially sympatric Rufous-crowned Greenlet (Hylophilus poicilotis). The two species’ plumages are generally very similar, which undoubtedly contributed to precluding their earlier separation, but the present species differs in having overall paler underparts, pale gray irides, and a more gray-brown back, as well as more obviously in its vocalizations. The Gray-eyed Greenlet ranges from far northeast Brazil south to northern Sao Paulo, with outlying populations in southwest Mato Grosso do Sul and, even further afield, in eastern Bolivia. It largely inhabits caatinga woodland, but also utilizes forest scrub and edges in more humid zones, and appears more adaptable to such modified habitats than the Rufous-crowned Greenlet.