Thick-billed Saltator
Saltator maxillosus
A grosbeaklike bird found in the canopy of montane forests; often accompanies mixed-species flocks. Note the broad white eyebrow and black mustache, which in males contrasts with a dark gray head and back and a buff throat and belly. Females have an olive-green back, a gray face, and a buff throat and belly. Females resemble Green-winged Saltator, but with a buff (not white) throat and a heavier bill.
Identification
Measures about 19 centimeters. It draws attention by the very thick, tall and yellow beak at the base. Upper parts dark gray. Almost without green, white eyebrow starting at the base of the beak, lower parts rusty; female with green back; the immature with green upper parts and the black beak.<p>Its vocalization is by stanza of four strong calls, the third loudest, sings from August onwards.
Taxonomy
Monotypic species ( subspecies are not recognized ).<p>(Clements checklist, 2014).
- Scientific name
- Saltator maxillosus
- Authority
- Cabanis, 1851
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Saltator
Range and habitat
They live on the edge of the forest, gardens, locally in the high mountains of Southeast Brazil. The species range is from Espírito Santo to Rio de Janeiro, and from there to the northeast of Rio Grande do Sul and east of Argentina.
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Behavior
Just like its counterpart, the real iron crack (Saltator similis), this species feeds on seeds, leaves, insects and fruits (omnivorous).<p>During reproduction they live strictly in couples, extremely loyal to a territory . They build cup-shaped nests at little height, the incubation lasts around 14 days. It has an average of 2 litters per season with 3 eggs each.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Blackstart
Oenanthe melanura
A small wheatear. Overall lead-gray with a prominent black tail which it fans continuously; often hops on the ground. Lives in rocky deserts and semi-arid zones; often found in desert wadis near trees and bushes and sometimes around human habitation. Can be very tame and bold. Its song is a beautiful, melancholic series of flutey syllables.
Brown-throated Fulvetta
Fulvetta ludlowi
Orange-brown with black-and-white wing panels and a speckled white “beard” extending down the throat and up to either cheek. Inhabits high-elevation montane forests in the eastern Himalayas, where it usually forages in flocks in dense lower vegetation and in bamboo stands. Listen for its song, a pair or trio of high thin notes followed by a rapid-fire machine-gun rattle. Calls sound like broken-apart components of the song.
Surucua Trogon
Trogon surrucura
Often draws attention to its presence by its song: an ascending sequence of “kwa” notes, similar to Green-backed Trogon, but faster. Two subspecies occur in Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina with limited geographical overlap that vary in the color of the breast and eyering; the southern one has a red belly and eyering, while the northern one has a yellow belly and eyering. The males of both subspecies have a violet-blue head and breast, a green back, and a white undertail. Females have a dull gray breast and the undertail is gray with white tips. Found in the middle to upper levels of forests and woodlands.
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