Olive-backed Tanager

Overview

The olive-backed tanager (Mitrospingus oleagineus) is a small bird species belonging to the family Mitrospingidae, previously classified within the true tanagers. It is restricted to a small range in the tri-border area of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil, where it resides in the slopes of isolated mesas known as tepuis.

Identification

• Measures approximately 19 cm in length and weighs between 35.5 and 46 g.
• Features deep olive green upperparts, an olive-yellow breast that brightens on the belly, and a dark gray forehead and face contrasting with a paler gray throat.
• The nominate subspecies has a distinct gray 'mask', while the juvenile appears duller and plainer without this marking.
• Song is described as 'zweee-eet?' or 'zwee-er-eet?', sometimes repeated, accompanied by thin, high-pitched calls during foraging.

Habitat

Inhabits humid and wet forests on the slopes of tepuis (isolated mesas), mostly within primary or secondary forests but also at their edges. Found at elevations ranging between 900 and 1,800 m, with the nominate subspecies in southeastern Venezuela and adjacent areas of Guyana and northern Brazil, and the obscuripectus subspecies in southeastern Venezuela's Bolívar state.

Diet

Primarily feeds on insects and fruit, foraging by hopping through understorey or mid-level vegetation and occasionally catching prey in short, clumsy sallies. Typically forages in flocks of its own species numbering up to 20 individuals, though it may join mixed-species groups.

Did you know?

The species and its relatives were removed from the large family of 'true' tanagers and established in their own small family, Mitrospingidae, following a 2013 publication that demonstrated they did not belong with their former relatives.