Silver-backed Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Silvery Tanager

Male, Nominate subspecies
Photo © by Megan Perkins
Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Peru, December 11, 2005

Stilpnia viridicollis

Tangara viridicollis

Identification

13 cm (5 in)
Subspecies quite different
Male viridicollis

• Dark blue to black head, collar and underparts
• Yellow to coppery cheeks and throat
• Blue upperside including wings

Female viridicollis

• Green upperside
• Brown cap
• Greenish throat and side of head
• Greenish underside becomes gray on belly

Male fulvigula

• Bright turquoise upperside and flanks
• Black wings, tail, collar, upperside of head, and underside except flanks
• Orange throat to side of head

Female fulvigula

• Green body with darker upperside and black edges to remiges
• Gray-brown cap
• Buffy-orange throat and side of head

Distribution

Female, Nominate subspecies
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Village of Aguas Calientes, Peru, September, 2009

South America: found in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia,

Taxonomy

This species used to be placed in genus Tangara.

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

• S. v. fulvigula:

• Andes of southern Ecuador and northern Peru

• S. v. viridicollis:

• Andes of central and southern Peru

Habitat

Wet and humid forest borders, and patches of remnant forests.

Behaviour

Diet

There is little firm information, but it appears they eat fruit, arthropods and plant materials.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved April 2017)
4. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
5. Ridgely and Tudor 2009. Field guide to the songbirds of South America - The Passerines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Silver-backed Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Silver-backed_Tanager

External Links

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