Black-and-white Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Conothraupis speculigera

Identification

16 - 16.5cm

Male

• Black head, upper breast, upper back and tail
• Black wings with small white patch
• Grey rump and flanks
• White on lower breast to undertail-coverts
• Red eye
• Fairly thick bill

Female

• Olive head and upperparts
• Blackish primary coverts
• Dusky tail with olive edges
• White underparts, throat very lightly tinged olive-yellow, breast more heavily washed olive and with blurry olive streaking
• Weak broken whitish eyering

Juveniles are like females.

Distribution

Locally from western Ecuador, eastern Peru, and north-western Bolivia.
Rare to uncommon in most of its range.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species¹.
Has been considered conspecific with Cone-billed Tanager.

Habitat

Dry deciduous woodland, arid semi-open scrub, second growth, disturbed woodland and borders of humid forest.
Occurs from 500 - 1700m in Ecuador, in Peru up to 1500m. Mostly below 600m east of Andes.

Behaviour

Often seen in pairs or small family groups.

Diet

The diet includes insects and seeds.

Breeding

Breeding season mainly February to March during rainy period. The nest is an untidy open and loosely-woven cup built from sticks and leaves. The clutch consists of 2 or 3 pale blue eggs with heavy, evenly-distributed brown blotches.

References

1. 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
2. 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

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-and-white Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-and-white_Tanager

External Links

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