Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager is blackish above and bright yellow below. It has a variable yellow crown and blue in the wing. The rump can be blue (flavinucha) or green (sumptuosus). It forages humid and humid montane forest in pairs of the company of mixed species flocks. The Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager has a distinctive plumage, but see Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager and Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager.

Status: The Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager is fairly common montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1000-2200 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish:Tangara-Montaña de Ala Azul.

Sub-species: Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus somptuosus), (Lesson), 1831.  E slope of Andes in extreme S Ecuador (Zamora–Chinchipe) S to C Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba).
(Anisognathus somptuosus flavinucha), (d’Orbigny and Lafresnaye), 1837. E slope of Andes in Peru (from Puno) S to S Bolivia (Chuquisaca).

Meaning of Name: Anisognathus: Gr. Anisos= unequal and gnathos= lower jaw; alluding to the stubby, almost bullfinch-like bills of these mountain tanagers. somptuosus: L. sumptuosus= extravagant, costly.

See more of the Family Thraupidae