Black-headed Tanager
Stilpnia cyanoptera
Small bird of foothill forests. Males have a pale buffy body with black head, wings, and tail; females are much more drab, with a grayish-green head, pale bluish-green back, and yellowish underparts. In good light, both sexes show blue in flight feathers. Found in foothill forests and edge habitats, dry valleys, and in humid forest around the bases of the tepuis. Usually observed at fruiting trees, often in pairs or small family groups, from lower levels into canopy. Calls are indistinct chips and twitters. Plumage pattern of male is distinctive; females are more confusing but are seldom seen without males, facilitating identification; note contrasting gray head and (at close range) blue in wings.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Stilpnia cyanoptera
- Authority
- (Swainson, 1834)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Stilpnia
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Yellow-legged Buttonquail
Turnix tanki
Hardly bigger than a sparrow, this odd little ground bird has a disproportionately loud song. The booming hoots the female gives during the breeding season are often the easiest way to find this species in the open grassy habitats it occupies. Females are more vividly colored than males, with a bright orange breast and nape, yellow belly, white throat, and speckled gray upperparts. Males have a faded version of the same general color scheme, but have less spotting on the breast and a tan throat.
Ashy-faced Owl
Tyto glaucops
A large nocturnal species that hunts over open habitats and roosts in wooded areas and manmade structures. Note this species’ ashen-gray face and buff underparts. The Barn Owl is very similar in size and shape, but it has a white face and is paler below. Calls are similar to those of Barn Owl and include a harsh, almost hissing, “shaaaaaa” and a rapid, insectlike clicking.
Sooty Thicket-Fantail
Rhipidura threnothorax
A medium-sized, long-tailed bird of lowland forest thickets, often near streams. All over sooty-gray plumage, with a short white eye-brow, white throat and a black chest with white dots. Likes to stay in cover, where it often twitches and fans its tail. Similar to Black and White-bellied Thicket-Fantails but Sooty has a black belly, and lacks the white wing bars and white tips to the tail. More often heard than seen. Most commonly given call is three explosive, downslurred notes “tyu-tyu-tyu!”.
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