Yellow-backed Tanager

Overview

The yellow-backed tanager (Hemithraupis flavicollis) is a smallish bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Panama and most mainland South American countries, excluding Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Identification

• Adult males have a mostly brownish black head and upper back with bright yellow lower back, rump, throat, and undertail coverts.
• Adult females have an olive-green head and upperparts with mostly yellow underparts that are brightest on the throat and breast.
• Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a dusky maxilla, a pinkish to yellow mandible, and dark grey legs and feet.
• When foraging, the bird makes high 'tsick', 'tut', and 'tyoo tsick' calls, while in Brazil it produces nasal, upslurred 'sreeeh' notes.

Habitat

The species has a disjunct distribution across Panama and mainland South America. It primarily inhabits terra firme forest, with a lesser presence in várzea forest and occasionally in forest edges, plantations, and clearings with trees.

Diet

The yellow-backed tanager feeds on arthropods and fruit. It forages in pairs, family groups, and mixed-species feeding flocks, mostly gleaning in the forest canopy, though it also occasionally hover-gleans or performs short sallies.

Did you know?

The genus name Hemithraupis combines the Ancient Greek words for 'half' or 'small' and 'thraupis', a term referring to an unidentified small bird mentioned by Aristotle.