From Opus

Photo by lior kislev
Patty Trail, Huanaco, Peru, December 2009

Alternative names: Oleaginous Tanager; Ochraceous Hemispingus; Merida Hemispingus

Hemispingus frontalis

[edit] Identification

14cm. A dull hemispingus with a relatively slender bill.

• Long, narrow and weakly indicated yellowish supercilium, more pronounced in northern subspecies
• Dull dirty olive crown, upperparts and tail
• Dingy olive-yellow underparts, more olive on sides
• Dusky grey, relatively slender bill

Sexes similar. Juveniles lacks supercilium.

[edit] Distribution

South America: found in the Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.
Fairly common in its range.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

Five subspecies are recognized:

• H. f. frontalis:

• Subtropical Andes of eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru

• H. f. ignobilis (Ochraceous or Merida Hemispingus - suggested that it might merit elevation to species rank):

• Andes of western Venezuela (southern Lara, Trujillo, Mérida and Táchira)

• H. f. flavidorsalis:

• Sierra de Perijá (Colombia/Venezuela border)

• H. f. hanieli:

• Coastal mountains of northern Venezuela (Aragua to Miranda)

• H. f. iteratus:

• Coastal mountains of north-eastern Venezuela (Monagas to Sucre)

The closest relative seems to be Black-eared Hemispingus.

[edit] Habitat

Moist montanes.
Occurs at 1,400 to 2,900m.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on arthropods.
Usually seen in pairs, family parties or small groups in understorey mixed-species flocks. A dead-leaf specialist, works trough undergrowth, flying a few metres and hopping up branches while flicking its tail.
Birds in breeding condition from June to November in Venezuela, juvenile in April in Peru. Eggs white. No other information about breeding.
A resident species.

[edit] References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2011. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553781
3. Avibase
4. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links