White-shouldered Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Male, Subspecies flaviventris
Photo by rka
Gran Couva, Trinidad, February 2018

Tachyphonus luctuosus

Identification

Female, subspecies panamensis
Photo by Stanley Jones
Pipeline Road, northwest of Gamboa, Panama, February 2018

13–14 cm (5-5½ in)

• Glossy black overall plumage
• White shoulder patch
• Long-tailed
• Black thin bill
  

Females and immatures: have olive upperparts, yellow underparts, grey head and neck.

Variation

Females in the Caribbean slope of Central America have heads with olive colors and minimal contrast to body.

Distribution

Central America: Honduras to Panama
South America: Colombia south to Ecuador (west of the Andes) and Bolivia (east of the Andes), east to southern Brazil and the Guianas, and on Trinidad.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Photo by Cedric K
Pipeline Road, Panama, March 2005

Five subspecies are recognized¹:

• T. l. axillaris:

• Caribbean slope of eastern Honduras to western Panama

• T. l. nitidissimus:

• Pacific slope of south-western Costa Rica and extreme western Panama

• T. l. panamensis:

• East Panama to western Colombia, westerb Ecuador and western Venezuela

• T. l. luctuosus:

• South East Colombia east of Andes to Bolivia, the Guianas and northern Brazil

• T. l. flaviventris:

• Extreme north-eastern Venezuela (Sucre) and Trinidad

Habitat

Tall mature second growth forests and cocoa plantations.

Behaviour

Breeding

Their nest is a deep open cup made from dry grass and lined with fine fibres. It is placed in low vegetation. The clutch consists of 3 cream eggs with brown blotches.

Diet

Their main diet consists of insects, including stick insects, with the addition of fruit.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Feb 2018)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) White-shouldered Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/White-shouldered_Tanager

External Links

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