Masked Crimson Tanager

About the Masked Crimson Tanager

The masked crimson tanager (Ramphocelus nigrogularis) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical swamps and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.

The masked crimson tanager was first described by German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix in 1825. Its species name is derived from the Latin words niger "black", and gularis "throated". It is one of nine species of brightly coloured tanagers of the genus Ramphocelus. Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates its closest relative is the crimson-backed tanager (R. dimidiatus), and the two split around 800,000 years ago.

Measuring 18 to 19 cm (7 to 7.5 in) in length, the adult male has a black face, wings, mantle, belly and tail, and is a bright red elsewhere in its plumage. The bill has a silver sheen. The female resembles the male but has a brownish belly and duller plumage overall, while the juvenile is duller still. It resembles the vermilion tanager (Calochaetes coccineus) but the latter lives at higher altitudes.

The masked crimson tanager makes a high-pitched single note variously transcribed as tchlink or "tink", and a simple melody often sung at dawn. The masked crimson tanager is found across Amazonia and is abundant. It prefers to dwell near bodies of water such as lakes, swamps or rivers, generally at altitudes below 600 m (2,000 ft). Masked crimson tanagers move about in troops of 10 to 12 birds. The species can form mixed species flocks with the silver-beaked tanager (Ramphocelus carbo). It is frugivorous (fruit-eating). Wikipedia →