Alternative name: Gray-crested Tanager (cristata)
- Eucometis penicillata
Identification
Length: 6.75" (17 cm).
- Grey head and neck
- Most subspecies with small crest, whitish in some of them
- Whitish chin and throat
- Olive back
- Bright yellow underparts
Sexes similar. Immatures are like adults but with dusky lores and head yellowish-olive like upperparts.
Distribution
Southern Mexico through Central America and South America south to Bolivia and Argentina. There are gaps in the distribution, such that for example most of Venezuela and parts of northern Brazil is without this species.
Taxonomy
Seven subspecies recognized:
- E. p. pallida from tropical southeast Mexico to eastern Guatemala
- E. p. spodocephala in tropical Nicaragua and on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica
- E. p. stictothorax in tropical southwest Costa Rica and western Panama
- E. p. cristata from eastern Panama to northern Colombia and to extreme western Venezuela
- E. p. penicillata from southeast Colombia east of Andes to the Guianas, eastern Peru and northern Brazil
- E. p. affinis in tropical northern Venezuela
- E. p. albicollis from nothern Bolivia to northern Paraguay, northeast Argentina and south-central Brazil
Habitat
Understory of humid and dry woodlands and forest in lowlands.
Occurs from sea-level up to 1700m, mainly below 1000m.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects, takes also fruit and seeds.
Follows army ant swarms. Forages low on or near the ground.
The nest is a frail, thin-walled shallow cup of rootlets and plant fibres. It's placed 0.5 to 3m above the ground in a bush or tree, often alongside water. Lays 1 to 2 eggs.
A resident species.
References
- 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
- 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
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Gray-headed Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Gray-headed_Tanager
