Swallow Tanager
Tersina viridis
Unique small tanager, widespread in lowlands and foothills up to 1,800 m. Male is bright cerulean with a black mask, white lower belly, and some black bars on the sides. Female is mossy green with paler yellow belly and scalloped barring on the sides. Behavior much different from other tanagers: perches upright, often on exposed branches or treetops, and sallies out for insects like a flycatcher. Usually seen in pairs or small loose groups. Found at forest edges, clearings, or gardens.
Identification
The swallow tanager is 14.5–15 cm (5.7–5.9 in) in length with a broad flat bill. This bird is strongly sexually dimorphic. The male is bright turquoise blue with a black face and throat. The turquoise flanks have black barring and the lower belly is white. The female is bright green with dusky-olive barring on the flanks. She lacks the black face mask. They are gregarious but do not associate with other species. They mainly eat fruit but they will also sally after insects from an exposed perch. The swallow tanagers are unique among tanagers in that they will sometimes dig a hole in a bank for a nest.
Taxonomy
The swallow tanager was formally described in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger under the binomial name Hirundo viridis. The type locality is eastern Brazil. The species is now the only member of the genus Tersina that was introduced in 1819 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name is from the French Tersine, an unidentified bird described by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The specific epithet viridis is the Latin for "green". A molecular phylogenetic study of the tanager family published in 2014 found that the swallow tanager is sister to the honeycreepers in the genus Cyanerpes.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Tersina viridis
- Authority
- (Illiger, 1811)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Tersina
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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