Yellow-backed Tanager
Hemithraupis flavicollis
Small warblerlike tanager. Male is distinctive: mostly black above with yellow patch on back, yellow throat and undertail coverts, and dingy whitish belly. Female is less striking: overall yellowish with grayer flanks, yellow edging on wing feathers, and orange lower bill (sometimes dull). Widespread from eastern Panama to southeast Brazil. Typically seen in pairs foraging in the canopy of lowland forest, often following a mixed-species flock.
Identification
The yellow-backed tanager is a relatively small tanager. It has a body mass of 12.9 g and a tail length of around 5 cm with the females having a slightly shorter tail. Like many tanagers, the yellow-backed tanager is sexually dimorphic, with vibrantly coloured males and duller females. While the males of different subspecies vary, most have a black head, neck, wings and tail; a bright yellow throat, vent, and back, and a white breast, belly, and undertail coverts. Females of all subspecies are bright yellow on the throat, rump, median coverts and breast, with an olive crown, neck, back, belly, and tail. Both sexes have silvery-grey legs and a bill with a dark upper mandible and a yellowish-orange lower mandible, which is more boldly coloured on the males. It makes many different calls and songs, consisting mostly of high-pitched chirps and trills, as well as a buzzing call that the male makes while attempting to initiate copulation.
Taxonomy
The yellow-backed tanager was described in 1818 by Louis Pierre Vieillot who place it in the genus Nemosia. It was later placed in its current genus, Hemithraupis. There are currently 11 recognized subspecies.
- Scientific name
- Hemithraupis flavicollis
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1818)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Hemithraupis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Columba malherbii
A small-to-medium-sized dark pigeon with slaty wings, a grayish head and breast, an iridescent green-pink sheen on the mantle, a buffy vent, and red feet. Sexes differ in plumage: male has a gray belly and female has a buff-rufous belly. Pairs are fairly common in the canopy and at middle levels of forest, including degraded forest and edge, but rarer at higher altitudes. Calls include a grating “krrrrk-krrrrk” and song is “kruueh-kruuw-koo-koo-ko-ko-kokokoko” with notes speeding up like a bouncing ping-pong ball. The larger Maroon Pigeon has yellow legs and bill and lacks Sao Tome Pigeon’s iridescent green nape; Lemon Dove has a white face and frequents the forest floor.
Tapajos Antpitta
Myrmothera subcanescens
Retiring species, almost tailless with very long robust legs. Has a reddish brown-back and white underparts streaked olive-gray. Hops, or occasionally walks very quietly, on the ground of humid forest, normally close to fallen trees in dense undergrowth. Song is a haunting series of low hollow notes that increase in volume, audible from a long distance.
Black-faced Ibis
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Large, boldly patterned, and often noisy ibis. Common and conspicuous in cooler and wetter regions of southern Chile and Argentina; uncommon and more local in northern areas. No similar species in range. Favors open country, especially wet grasslands, but also ranges to open forest and beaches. Nests colonially in trees and on cliffs, including in towns and even cities. Soars easily on broad wings, sometimes high with kettles of vultures. Loud trumpeting cries carry long distances.
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