The speckled tanager (''Ixothraupis guttata'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. It is a resident breeder in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, Panama, Trinidad, Venezuela,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and the extreme north of Brazil. There are also sight records from French Guiana. It is probably a close relative of the

spotted tanager The spotted tanager (''Ixothraupis punctata'') is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or t ...

(''I. punctata'') which replaces it to the south. These two species are generally presumably to be fully

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

, but may actually be parapatric: in 1998 a speckled tanager was found in the

Serranía de los Churumbelos Serranía de Los Churumbelos Auka-Wasi National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Los Churumbelos Auka-Wasi) was declared on 30 August 2007 by the Colombian government. It is located in the Bota Caucana of southern Colombia. ...

(

), just about north of where spotted tanagers are known to occur.Salaman ''et al.'' (2002) Adult speckled tanagers are long and weigh . The upperparts are green with black spotting, and the face is yellow with a black line from the eye to the gape. The wings and tail are black edged with green, and the underparts are white spotted with black. The sexes are similar. The speckled tanager's flight call is a weak metallic chirping ''tsip''. The Trinidadian

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''I. g. trinitatis'' has brighter and more extensive yellow on the head, and the black spotting is more conspicuous. ''Ixothraupis guttata'' is more of a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

species than its relative and occurs in

humid Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depen ...

montane and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, with generally not very tall trees and a dense understory. Speckled tanagers are social birds which eat mainly fruit and some insects. They are often seen with

bay-headed tanager The bay-headed tanager (''Tangara gyrola'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, South America south to Ecuador, Bolivia and north-western Brazil, and on Trinidad. Taxonomy The bay-headed ta ...

s and

honeycreeper The typical honeycreepers form a genus ''Cyanerpes'' of small birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. They are found in the tropical New World from Mexico south to Brazil. They occur in the forest canopy, and, as the name implies, they are specia ...

s. The small cup nest is built in a tree and the normal clutch is two brown-blotched white eggs. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days to hatching, with another 15 days before the chicks fledge.

Footnotes

References

* ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): ''A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago'' (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y. * Hilty, Steven L. (2003): ''Birds of Venezuela''. Christopher Helm, London. * Salaman, Paul G. W.; Stiles, F. Gary; Bohórquez, Clara Isabel; Álvarez-R., Mauricio; Umaña, Ana María; Donegan, Thomas M. & Cuervo, Andrés M. (2002): New and noteworthy bird records from the east slope of the Andes of Colombia. ''Caldasia'' 24 (1): 157–189
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Footnotes

References

Further reading