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Dusky Chlorospingus - BirdForum Opus

Photo by NJLarsen
Sachatamia Lodge, Pichincha, Ecuador, August 2015

Alternative names: Dusky Bush Tanager; Dusky-bellied Bush Tanager

Chlorospingus semifuscus

Identification

14-15cm. A drab Chlorospingus.

  • Dark grey crown and side of head, sometimes with small white postocular spot
  • Dark olive upperparts with dusky flight-feathers, edged yellowish-olive
  • Brownish-grey throat and underparts, paler on centre of belly, sometimes with ochareous-olive wash forming a diffuse pectoral band
  • Tinged olive flanks and undertail-coverts
  • Pale-whitish to pale orange to reddish-brown to intense brownish-red eye (variable even at one location)
  • Blackish bill

Sexes similar. Juveniles are duller with faint grey streaks on belly

Variation

Subspecies livingstoni darker overall, more smoky grey on head and smoky olive on upperparts, with yellowish-white eye

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia and Ecuador.
A fairly common to common restricted-range species.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

  • C. s. livingstoni:
  • Pacific slope of Western Andes of Colombia
  • C. s. semifuscus:
  • Pacific slope of south-western Colombia (Narino) and western Ecuador
  • C. s. xanthothorax:
  • southwestern Ecuador (El Oro and adjacent western Loja)

Subspecies xanthothorax describes a population of birds found on the west side of the Andes which previously were included in the subspecies pheocephalus of Common Chlorospingus.

Habitat

Cloud forest. Stays mainly inside the forest but visits sometimes fruiting shrubs at the forest border.
Recorded mostly at 1200 - 2300m in Ecuador and 900 - 2500m in Colombia.
More at lower levels and in interior of forest than Common Chlorospingus and Ashy-throated Chlorospingus.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on insects, small fruits and berries. Forages in small groups or pairs, often in mixed-species flocks. Forages actively, hopping along branches and perch-gleaning.

Breeding

Nesting recorded in April and June. A described nest was made of grass and dry bamboo leaves and placed 7.5m above the ground in a tree.

Movements

A resident species.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. 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

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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