From Opus

Subspecies regionalis
Photo by Stanley Jones
La Cinchona, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

Chlorospingus ophthalmicus

Chlorospingus flavopectus

[edit] Identification

13.5 cm

• Olive upperparts
• Yellow underpaarts
• White belly
• Brown head
• Thin supercilium
• Light throat
• White spot behind eye
• Colour of cheek, throat and eye area varies across range
  

Subspecies argentinus
Photo by Fritz73
Tafi del Valle, Tucuman, Argentina, 2001

Juvenile

• Brown upperparts
• Darker below
• Dull olive eye spot

[edit] Distribution

Central Mexico to Bolivia and northwest Argentina.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 26 subspecies^[1]:

• C. o. ophthalmicus: South-eastern Mexico (northern Vera Cruz and southern San Luis Potosí to western Chiapas)
• C. o. albifrons: Sierra Madre del Sur of south-western Mexico (Guerrero and Oaxaca)
• C. o. wetmorei: South-eastern Mexico (Sierra de Tuxtla in Veracruz)
• C. o. dwighti: Caribbean slope of southern Mexico (Chiapas) and eastern Guatemala
• C. o. persimilis: Southern Mexico (southern Oaxaca)
• C. o. postocularis: Pacific slope of southern Mexico (Chiapas) and western Guatemala
• C. o. honduratius: Subtropical El Salvador and Honduras
• C. o. regionalis: Subtropical Nicaragua and eastern Costa Rica
• C. o. novicius: Subtropical south-western Costa Rica and western Panama (Chiriquí)
• C. o. punctulatus: Highlands of western Panama (Veraguas and Coclé)
• C. o. ponsi: Sierra de Perijá (Colombia/Venezuela border)
• C. o. falconensis: North-western Venezuela (San Luis Mountains and Sierra de Aroa)
• C. o. jaqueti: Western slope of Easterm Andes of north-eastern Colombia and northern Venezuela
• C. o. venezuelanus: Andes of south-western Venezuela (Lara, Mérida and Táchira)
• C. o. exitelus: Colombia (eastern slope of Western Andes and Central Andes in Antioquia)
• C. o. nigriceps: Subtropical and lower temperate Andes of Colombia
• C. o. eminens: Eastern Andes of north-eastern Colombia (Norte de Santander and Boyacá)
• C. o. trudis: Colombia (western slope of Andes of Santander at La Pica)
• C. o. macarenae: Eastern Colombia (Macarena Mountains)
• C. o. flavopectus: Eastern Andes of Colombia (southern Santander and western Cundinamarca)
• C. o. phaeocephalus: Subtropical mountains of eastern and western Ecuador
• C. o. hiaticolus: Central Peru
• C. o. cinereocephalus: Subtropical central Peru (Junín)
• C. o. peruvianus: Subtropical southern Peru (Puno)
• C. o. bolivianus: West-central Bolivia (Cochabamba and La Paz)
• C. o. fulvigularis: Central Bolivia (southern Cordillera de Cochabamba)
• C. o. argentinus: Central Bolivia (upper Río Mizque) to northern Argentina (Tucumán)

Some authorities expect that this species will be split into two, one for Central and one for South America^[1]

[edit] Habitat

Rain forests, in tangles of bushes and thickets.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects, spiders, small fruits and nectar.

[edit] Breeding

The cup nest is built from twigs, roots, leaves and mosses, lined with leaves and fibres. The clutch consists of 1-3 white eggs, with puce and maroon spots, incubated by the female. Both parents feed the young.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: squeaky tseeet or chit.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Birdforum thread discussing taxonomy of Common Bush Tanager
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links