Masked Mountain Tanager
Tephrophilus wetmorei
Scarce tanager found in stunted forest at treeline in the high Andes from central Colombia south through Ecuador, barely reaching Peru. Plumage is golden-yellow with a black face and throat; wings are black with some blue markings. Usually found in pairs or small groups that move furtively through the vegetation, often with mixed-species flocks.
Taxonomy
The masked mountain tanager was formally described in 1934 by the American ornithologist Robert Thomas Moore from a specimen collected at the base of the Sangay volcano in Ecuador. He introduced a new monospecific genus Tephrophilus to give the binomial name Tephrophilus wetmorei. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek tephra meaning "ashes" (i.e. volcano) and philos meaning "-loving". The specific epithet was chosen to honour the ornithologist Alexander Wetmore. The species was subsequently placed in the genus Buthraupis but when a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found Buthraupis was polyphyletic, the masked mountain tanager was returned to the resurrected genus Tephrophilus. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Tephrophilus wetmorei
- Authority
- Moore, RT, 1934
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Tyrannidae
- Genus
- Tephrophilus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Elusive inhabitant of humid tropical lowlands and foothills from Veracruz to Honduras. Dark brown and gray overall with pale bluish eyering, darker throat, and rusty rump. Walks jerkily like a small chicken (not like a thrush) on the shady forest floor, holding its tail cocked and tossing leaves with its bill. Can be very difficult to see. Listen for distinctive loud series of piping whistles that drops in pitch.
Middle American Screech-Owl
Megascops guatemalae
Small, cryptically patterned, yellow-eyed owl of tropical lowland forest from Mexico to Panama. Tends to stay well hidden in the understory. Cannot be identified readily by sight, but it is the only screech-owl throughout most of its range and within its habitat. Song is a purring trill that can easily be mistaken for the purring of a toad or insect. Plumage varies from grayish brown overall to reddish.
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird
Pogoniulus subsulphureus
A small barbet that frequents forest, forest edge, and even urban areas with enough vegetation. Despite its name, the yellow throat is not often obvious; instead look for this species’ overall pale whitish underparts and black upperparts with a distinctive white moustache. Shows a small yellow rump when seen from above. Not all individuals have a yellowish throat; this is more common in the western part of the range. Similar to Red-rumped and Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds, but note the Yellow-throated Tinkerbird’s overall bicolored appearance, its fast nasal song, and, in the west, its yellowish throat. Song is a typical fast, nasal tinkerbird song with short, rapid sets of 2-5 “po-po-po” notes given at approximately 5 notes per second, often with hesitant pauses between note sets.
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