Metallic-green Tanager (Tangara labradorides)

Identification & Behavior: ~13 cm (5.1 in). The Metallica-green Tanager is mostly opalescent green. The crown, nape and the back are black with a median opalescent green stripe on the mantle. The center of the belly is brown and grades to rusty toward the vent an undertail coverts. It forages in second growth, and the canopy of mature montane forests often in the company of mixed species flocks. It is similar to the Blue-browed Tanager but is distinguished by having a mostly opalescent green head.

Status: The Metallic-Green Tanager is uncommon in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1350-2200 m. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Tangara Verde Metálico.

Sub-species: Metallic-green Tanager (Tangara labradorides chaupensis) Chapman, 1925.

Meaning of Name: Tangara: Tupí name, Tangara= dancer, one who turns and skips, originally used for the manakins, but subsequently (Marcgrave 1648) transferred to other bright finch-like birds. labradorides: In honor of French Pierre de Labrador Labrador stone, and idēs= resembling.

See more of the Family Thraupidae