Orange-throated Tanager
Wetmorethraupis sterrhopteron
Unique and beautiful rainforest tanager known only from several remote areas of the eastern Andes in northern Peru and southeastern Ecuador. No other Andean bird has an orange throat, black upperparts, and blue wings. Most often encountered in clearings with scattered trees or at the edge of the forest. Pairs or small groups roam widely through the forest canopy, giving loud, far-carrying squeaky calls.
Taxonomy
The orange-throated tanager was formally described by George Lowery and John O'Neill in 1964. The authors placed the species in a new genus Wetmorethraupis to give the binomial name Wetmorethraupis sterrhopteron. The genus name honours the American ornithologist Alexander Wetmore by combining his name with the genus name Thraupis, the type genus of the tanager family Thraupidae. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek sterrhos meaning "stiff" or "hard" with pteron meaning feather.<p>A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Wetmorethraupis was the sister taxon to Bangsia. The orange-throated tanager is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Wetmorethraupis sterrhopteron
- Authority
- Lowery & O'Neill, 1964
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Wetmorethraupis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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A large silver and black cuckoo-dove that shows obvious contrast between the light silver chest, belly, neck, and head and the much darker gray wings and tail. More confined to primary foothill forest than other cuckoo-doves in its range, which are smaller and less robust, lacking the distinctive silver-gray color scheme of Pied. Often betrays its presence with loud and clear calls, often a clear rising “woooow” followed by a more hoarse “whhhow.”
Jamaican Crow
Corvus jamaicensis
An all black and somewhat large species that prefers wet forests but also occurs in open woodlands. Often found perched high on bare branches of trees or working epiphyte clumps and tree nooks in search of large insects and small lizards. All species in its range that are entirely black are considerably smaller than the Jamaican Crow. Calls include emphatic harsh “raaaa,” given singly or in series, a more leisurely “craaa-aa” and variations thereof, and somewhat of a musical burbling.
Sulawesi Scops-Owl
Otus manadensis
A small brown owl with yellow eyes and feathered ear tufts. Note square head shape when tufts not raised. Body all brown with extensive scattered darker and paler markings. Juvenile heavily barred on back and crown. Inhabits understory of forest and forest edge from lowlands to lower mountains. Endemic to Sulawesi. Distinctive: the only scops-owl in range. Song a persistent single note “woooo” repeated often, sometimes with an upward inflection at the end: “wooooek.”
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