The sapayoa or broad-billed sapayoa is a suboscine passerine bird found Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama.
Region
Chocó–Darién of eastern Panama and northwestern South America
Typical Environment
Occurs from eastern Panama through the Chocó of western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. Prefers humid lowland and foothill rainforest, especially along shaded streams and in ravines. Typically forages in the lower to mid-canopy within dense, mossy forest. Often accompanies mixed-species flocks moving through intact forest and tall secondary growth.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The sapayoa (broad-billed sapayoa) is the sole member of its family, Sapayoidae, and is an evolutionary outlier among New World suboscines, being more closely related to Old World broadbills and pittas. It builds a long, hanging pouch nest suspended over streams, often using moss and fibers bound with spider silk. Usually quiet and unobtrusive, it frequently joins mixed-species flocks in the humid foothill forests of Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Temperament
quiet and unobtrusive, often secretive
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief sallies from perches
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly or in pairs, frequently joining mixed-species foraging flocks. Nests are long, hanging pouch structures suspended over streams, built by both sexes. Likely monogamous, with both parents attending the nest and young.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is soft and high-pitched, consisting of thin tsee or tssit notes delivered in short series. Calls are subtle contact notes, easily overlooked in running water and forest background noise.
Plumage
Smooth, uniform olive-green upperparts with yellow-olive underparts and a paler throat; overall matte, mossy appearance with long rictal bristles at the bill base.
Diet
Feeds primarily on small insects and spiders, gleaned from foliage and twigs or caught by short flycatching sallies. Often forages methodically along streamside vegetation and vine tangles. May occasionally take small arthropods flushed by mixed-species flocks.
Preferred Environment
Forages in shaded understory to mid-levels of humid rainforest, especially near streams, ravines, and mossy gullies. Uses perches with good visibility for short sallies and careful gleaning.
