Speckled Tanager
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| Tangara guttata (Cabanis, 1850) |
The Speckled Tanager, Tangara guttata, is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia and the extreme north of Brazil.
It occurs in mountain forests and second growth. The small cup nest is built in a tree and the normal clutch is two brown-blotched white eggs. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days to hatching, with another 15 days before the chicks fledge.
Adult Speckled Tanagers are 13.2 cm long and weigh 18 g. The upperparts are green with black spotting, and the face is yellow with a black line from the eye to the gape. The wings and tail are black edged with green, and the underparts are white spotted with black. The sexes are similar.
The Trinidadian T. g. trinitatis has brighter and more extensive yellow on the head, and the black spotting is more conspicuous.
These are social birds which eat mainly fruit and some insects. They are often seen with Bay-headed Tanagers and honeycreepers. The Speckled Tanager’s flight call is a weak metallic chirping tsip.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Tangara guttata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
