Grass-green Tanager
Chlorornis riefferii
Large, bulky tanager found in the upper subtropical and temperate zones of the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia. Striking and not likely to be mistaken: entirely bright green with red bill and legs and rufous face and undertail coverts. Fairly common in montane forests and edges, where singles or pairs often move slowly with mixed-species flocks. Forages at all levels. Listen for its distinctive nasal call notes.
Taxonomy
The grass-green tanager was formally described in 1840 by the French ornithologist Auguste Boissonneau from a specimen collected near Bogotá in Colombia. He coined the binomial name Tanagra riefferii. The species is now the only member of the genus Chlorornis that was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek khlōros meaning "green" and ornis meaning "bird". The specific epithet was chosen to honour the collector Gabriel Rieffer. The grass-green tanager has a sister relationship to the genus Cnemathraupis containing the black-chested mountain tanager and the golden-backed mountain tanager.<p>Five subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Chlorornis riefferii
- Authority
- (Boissonneau, 1840)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Chlorornis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Male distinctive, with bright yellow head, yellowish underparts. Female is drab and streaky, usually with yellowish wash to face, and often found with bright males. Note bright rusty rump. White outer tail feathers flash in flight. A species of heathland, forest clearings, and farmland with hedges. Male sings from a prominent perch, giving a dry and uninspired “dzidzidzidzidzi.” Forms flocks in winter, feeding mainly on ground in search of seeds. A native of Eurasia, introduced to New Zealand and a few adjacent islands.
Spotted Sandpiper
Actitis macularius
Small shorebird. Constantly bobs its tail while working edges of streams, ponds, and lakes for invertebrates. Several individuals may be found at the same body of water, but never forms tight flocks. Underparts spotted in summer; plain in winter. Listen for two- or three-noted whistled call as they flush from shorelines. Distinctive wingbeats: snappy and below horizontal.
Black-tailed Whistler
Pachycephala melanura
Chunky, rounded songbird with heavy thick bill. Found across a wide range of habitats across its range: largely mangroves in Australia, but also inhabits freshwater swamps in New Guinea and forests and forest edge on smaller islands. Male has an olive-yellow back, black head, white chin, bright yellow underparts, and thick yellow hindcollar. Female plain gray above, paler gray below, with yellow undertail and in some subspecies a yellow belly. Overlaps very marginally with the very similar Golden Whistler in eastern Queensland, but note mangrove habitat as well as slightly longer bill and darker uppertail; also note significant yellow on underparts in female and different song. Vocalizations include variations on whistled songs, sometimes with a whip-like ending.
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