Fawn-breasted Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Digitalbcon
Chicaque Natural Park, San Antonio del Tequendama, Cundinamarca, Colombia, July 2009

Identification

14cm. An unusual tanager with a short, wide bill with a small hook.

Females are duller than males. Juveniles are dingy brownish-grey above without pattern.

Found throughout most of South America.
Widespread. Rare to fairly common in its range.

Two subspecies recognized:

P. m. venezuelensis in the Andes of Colombia to Venezuela and south to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and northwest Argentina
P. m. melanonota from eastern Paraguay to southeast Brazil, Uruguay and northeast Argentina

Forest borders and light woodland.
Occurs in the Andes mostly from 1500 to 2500m, occasionally higher. As low as 400m in Venezuela.

Forages in the canopy, usually alone. Does only sometimes associate with mixed-species flocks.

Feeds mostly on berries, fruits, seeds and larvae.

Breeding recorded between March and August.

Some seasonal or nomadic movements known, but poorly understood.

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

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Fawn-breasted Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Fawn-breasted_Tanager