The bicolored conebill is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is a resident breeder in South America from Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad south and east to the Guianas, northeast Peru and Brazil.
Region
Northern South America and Trinidad
Typical Environment
Found along Caribbean and Atlantic coasts from northern Colombia and Venezuela through Trinidad and the Guianas to northeastern Brazil, with local populations along major river systems and coastal lagoons. It is strongly tied to mangrove forests, especially stands of red, black, and white mangroves. Birds also use adjacent coastal scrub, saline marsh edges, and riverine thickets. The species tolerates fragmented patches but declines where mangroves are removed or heavily degraded.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A small tanager specialized for life in mangroves and coastal thickets, the bicolored conebill often forages in pairs or small groups. It frequently joins mixed-species flocks and moves rapidly through foliage, gleaning tiny arthropods and occasionally sipping nectar. Its song is thin and understated, making it easier to detect by movement than by voice. Conservation assessments currently list it as of least concern, though it depends heavily on intact mangrove habitats.
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically seen in pairs or small family groups and often joins mixed-species flocks in mangroves. Nests are small cups placed low to mid-level in dense shrubs or mangrove branches. Both sexes participate in foraging near the nest and in parental care.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations are thin and high-pitched, with sharp tsee or tsip calls. The song is a brief series of rapid, buzzy trills and high notes, easily lost in coastal wind and surf. It is more often detected by its quick, restless movements in mangrove foliage.
Plumage
Male shows slate-blue to bluish-gray upperparts with warm buff to cinnamon underparts; female is duller with olive-brown upperparts and paler buff underparts. Both sexes have a fine, sharply pointed conical bill and lack wingbars. The overall look is clean and bicolored, with a neat contrast between upper and underparts in males.
Diet
Primarily feeds on small insects and other arthropods gleaned from leaves, flower clusters, and twigs. It occasionally takes tiny fruits and will sip nectar from mangrove and coastal flowers. Foraging is fast and precise, using the fine-tipped conical bill to pick prey from surfaces and probe buds.
Preferred Environment
Forages mostly within mangrove canopies and along edges of tidal creeks and lagoons. Also uses adjacent coastal scrub and riverine thickets, especially where flowering and insect activity are concentrated.
