The buff-throated saltator (''Saltator maximus'') is a seed-eating bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It breeds from southeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to western

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

and northeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The buff-throated saltator is on average long and weighs . The adult has a slate-grey head with a white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

and a greenish crown. The upperparts are olive green, the underparts are grey becoming buff on the lower belly, and the throat is buff, edged with black. The thick convex bill and legs are black. Young birds are duller, and have a white-mottled blackish throat and breast, and brown markings on the lower underparts. The common call is a high '. Males duet melodiously with a warbled ''cheery cheery'' answered by ''cheery to you''. This is a species of dense vegetation. The buff-throated saltator feeds on fruit (e.g. of ''

Cymbopetalum mayanum ''Cymbopetalum mayanum'' is a species of plant in family Annonaceae. The specific epithet ''mayanum'' refers to the Mayan region in which it is indigenous, specifically the Atlantic lowlands of Guatemala and Honduras. It grows as a tree. It ...

'' ( Annonaceae), ''

Trophis racemosa ''Trophis racemosa'', commonly named white ramoon, is a species of plant of the fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, ...

'' ( Moraceae), and gumbo-limbo (''Bursera simaruba'')), buds, nectar and slow-moving insects. It forages at low and mid levels, sometimes with

mixed species flocks A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

. The two pale blue eggs per

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

measure some long by about wide and weigh about each, which is large among ''Saltator'' eggs. They are laid in a bulky cup nest up to high in a tree or bush.

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* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q918325 Saltator Birds of South America Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guianas Birds of the Cerrado Birds of Central America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Mexico Birds of Brazil Birds described in 1776 Taxa named by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller

References

Further reading

External links