Black-cowled Saltator

Overview

The black-cowled saltator (Saltator nigriceps) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is a monotypic species found along the western slope of the Andes in southwestern Ecuador and northern Peru. The IUCN assesses the species as being of Least Concern, although it remains vulnerable to habitat loss.

Identification

• Approximately 22 cm long with a weight of around 70 g.
• Sexes have the same plumage, featuring a mostly black head, neck, and throat with a deep gray nape and upperparts with a faint olive wash.
• Possesses a thick salmon red to yellow-orange bill and brown, gray, or horn blue legs.
• Song described as a 'ringing, explosive kurt, sweee-it!' or a high, screeching 'peet PEECHEW-EEZ'.

Habitat

Inhabits the canopy and edges of humid montane forest, dense secondary forest, and scrublands. Its range extends from far eastern El Oro Province and the eastern half of Loja Province in Ecuador south into northern Peru. Elevations range mostly between 1,700 and 2,900 m in Ecuador and between 1,200 and 2,500 m in Peru.

Diet

While specific diet studies are lacking, the species is assumed to feed on berries, seeds, and insects. It usually forages singly or in pairs, and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. Foraging occurs at most levels of the forest but primarily from mid-level to the canopy.

Did you know?

Despite being formally described in 1914, some twentieth-century authors treated it and the golden-billed saltator as conspecific. Its population size and trend remain unknown, though it is considered uncommon to locally fairly common in Ecuador.