Habitat
Premontane and montane evergreen forest, primarily on low, outlying ridges, but also altered habitats as long as forest patches and thickets of secondary growth remain. From 400 - 1,500 m.
Southern Colombia (western Putumayo) through eastern Ecuador to north-eastern Peru (San Martín).
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010) and decreasing.
Status VU
Habitat destruction and degradation due to intense pressure from agriculture and cattle pasture, low-intensity farming, tea and coffee growing, mining operations and logging, is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Ecuadorian Piedtail (Phlogophilus hemileucurus) [XC260491]
by Lelis Navarrete from Napo: 3 km NW Guagua Sumaco, Ecuador (call, calls)
Ecuadorian Piedtail (Phlogophilus hemileucurus) [XC449259]
by Jerome Fischer from Nuevo Mundo, Resguardo Ind\u00edgena Jard\u00edn de la Sierra, Orito, Putumayo, Colombia (song)
Subspecies
Has occasionally been placed in genus Adelomyia but more information required to permit accurate assessment of most appropriate generic placement. Forms a superspecies with Peruvian Piedtail (Phlogophilus harterti).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet