Beryl-spangled Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Photo by: Pitter
Dapa-Valle, Colombia, August 12, 2010

Tangara nigroviridis

Identification

12-13 cm.

• Black mask, forehead, chin, back, wings and tail, and most of the rest also dark
• Plumage is covered with scale-like iridescent bluish-green speckles, more so on flanks
• Crown is sprangled bluish-green
• Rump and lower back bluish-green; how far that spreads up the back differs among subspecies
• Belly and vent area is paler, almost white in some subspecies
• Juvenile is brownish on most of upperside with wing feathers edged paler buffy to bluish
• Juvenile underside mirrors adult except that the darker element is brown
• Juvenile head shows a pale stripe above the eye that goes back behind the auriculars and there bends down and connect to underside

Similar species

Male Black-capped Tanager is similar but less sprangled and with black crown. See also Masked Tanager

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies^[1]:

• T. n. cyanescens (consobrina):

• Andes of Colombia to northern Venezuela and western Ecuador

• T. n. nigroviridis:

• Eastern slope of Eastern Andes of Colombia and eastern Ecuador

• T. n. lozanoana:

• Mountains of Venezuela (Táchira, Mérida, Zulia and Lara)

• T. n. berlepschi:

• Andes of eastern Peru to north-western Bolivia (La Paz and Cochabamba)

A 5th subspecies consobrina is not recognised by all authorities^[2]

Habitat

Cloud forests.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes fruit and nectar.

Breeding

It builds a mossy cup nest, placed in a tree fork. The 2-5 eggs are incubated for 13-15 days; the young fledge after a furrher 14-20 days.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
4. Animal Bytes

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Beryl-spangled Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Beryl-spangled_Tanager

External Links

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