Speckled Tanager
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| Speckled Tanager | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tangara guttata (Cabanis, 1850) |
The Speckled Tanager, Tangara guttata, is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia and the extreme north of Brazil.[verification needed]
It is probably a close relative of the Spotted Tanager (T. punctata) which replaces it to the south. These two species are generally presumably to be fully allopatric, but may actually be parapatric: in 1998 a Speckled Tanager was found in the Serranía de los Churumbelos (Colombia), just about 100 miles (160 km) north of where Spotted Tanagers are known to occur.[1]
Adult Speckled Tanagers are 5.2 in (13.2 cm) long and weigh 0.63 oz (18 g). The upperparts are green with black spotting, and the face is yellow with a black line from the eye to the gape. The wings and tail are black edged with green, and the underparts are white spotted with black. The sexes are similar. The Speckled Tanager's flight call is a weak metallic chirping tsip.
The Trinidadian subspecies T. g. trinitatis has brighter and more extensive yellow on the head, and the black spotting is more conspicuous.
T. guttata is more of a subtropical species than its relative and occurs in humid montane and secondary forest, with generally not very tall trees and a dense understory[1]. Speckled Tanagers are social birds which eat mainly fruit and some insects. They are often seen with Bay-headed Tanagers and honeycreepers.
The small cup nest is built in a tree and the normal clutch is two brown-blotched white eggs. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days to hatching, with another 15 days before the chicks fledge.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Tangara guttata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
- Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Salaman, Paul G.W.; Stiles, F. Gary; Bohórquez, Clara Isabel; Álvarez-R., Mauricio; Umaña, Ana María; Donegan, Thomas M. & Cuervo, Andrés M. (2002): New and noteworthy bird records from the east slope of the Andes of Colombia. Caldasia 24(1): 157-189. PDF fulltext
