Olive-backed Tanager
Mitrospingus oleagineus
A bulky bird of tepui highlands, often encountered in groups. Unlikely to be confused within its limited range; plumage mostly coppery-olive (may tend toward yellow in sunlight) with a contrasting gray face and throat. Stout bill is silvery gray. Occurs in canopy of tepui highland forest, generally above 800 m, where groups forage noisily through vegetation, probing into epiphytes and dead leaves and hopping clumsily along branches, eating whatever is in their path. Frequents fruiting trees, and may join mixed-species flocks but are just as likely to be found away from them. Most typical call is a dreadful high-pitched screech, modulated as if the bird is being squeezed, and sounding quite literally like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Identification
The olive-backed tanager is 19 cm (7.5 in) long and weighs 35.5 to 46 g (1.25 to 1.62 oz). The nominate subspecies' forehead and face are dark gray and the throat paler gray. The head, mantle, and back are deep olive green; the breast is olive-yellow becoming brighter and more yellow on the belly. M. o. obscuripectus is very similar but the upper parts are a darker olive. The juvenile is duller and plainer than the adult and does not have the gray "mask".
Taxonomy
The olive-backed tanager and the three other species in family Mitrospingidae were previously placed in family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers. A 2013 publication detailed how they did not belong there and proposed the new family for them. The North and South American Classification Committees of the American Ornithological Society accepted the new placement in July 2017 and March 2019, respectively. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) followed suit in January 2018.<p>The olive-backed tanager has two subspecies, the nominate Mitrospingus oleagineus oleagineus and M. o. obscuripectus.
- Scientific name
- Mitrospingus oleagineus
- Authority
- (Salvin, 1886)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Mitrospingidae
- Genus
- Mitrospingus
Range and habitat
The olive-backed tanager has a very small range in the area where Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil meet. The nominate subspecies is the more eastern and is found in extreme southeastern Venezuela and the adjacent areas of west-central Guyana and far northern Brazil. M. o. obscuripectus is found in the southeastern part of Venezuela's Bolívar state and probably in adjoining Brazil.<p>The olive-backed tanager inhabits the slopes of tepuis (isolated mesas) in humid and wet forest, mostly in the interior of primary or secondary forest but also at the edges. In elevation it ranges between 900 and 1,800 m (3,000 and 5,900 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The olive-backed tanager forages by hopping through the understorey or mid level vegetation, primarily for insects but also for fruit. It also catches prey in "short clumsy sallies". It typically forages in flocks of its own species that may number up to 20 individuals, though it may join mixed-species flocks or be joined by other species.<p>No information about the olive-backed tanager's breeding phenology has been published.<p>The olive-backed tanager's song is rendered as "zweee-eet?" or "zwee-er-eet?" that is sometimes repeatedly sounded [1]. It makes several thin, high-pitched calls while foraging [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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