Fulvous-crested Tanager

Overview

The fulvous-crested tanager (Tachyphonus surinamus) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is a year-round resident of the Amazon Basin and the Guiana Shield, ranging from Venezuela and Colombia through the Guianas and northern Brazil.

Identification

• Size ranges from 15 to 17 cm in length, with a short, somewhat thin bill.
• Adult males are predominantly glossy black with a yellow-buff patch on the crown that can be erected into a crest, along with buff rumps, white wing bends, and maroon-chestnut flank feathers.
• Adult females feature a grey head with a yellowish area around the eye, dark olive upperparts, and buffy to greyish white underparts.
• The song consists of high hummingbird-like screeches interspersed with rich chip notes, described as 'soo-see-soo-see'chip'chip soo-see-soo-see'.

Habitat

Inhabits a variety of humid forest landscapes, including terra firme and várzea forest, light woodland, and scrubby areas with rock outcrops. Elevation ranges up to 600 m in Colombia, 900 m in Ecuador, 750 m in Peru, 1,400 m in Venezuela, and 900 m in Brazil.

Diet

Feeds on insects, fruits, and seeds. Forages mainly in the forest's mid- to upper levels and on its edges, usually as pairs or family groups and often as members of a mixed-species feeding flock.

Did you know?

The species was initially described by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 based on a specimen collected in Suriname, though the binomial name Turdus surinamus was later coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1766.