White-winged Shrike-Tanager

About the White-winged Shrike-Tanager

The white-winged shrike-tanager (Lanio versicolor) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. The white-winged shrike-tanager was formally described in 1837 with the binomial Tachyphonus versicolor. It was eventually reassigned to its current genus Lanio that had been erected in 1816. Late in the twentieth century it and the fulvous shrike-tanager (L. fulvus) were treated as a superspecies but twenty-first century studies refuted that treatment.

The white-winged shrike-tanager has two subspecies, the nominate L. v. versicolor (D'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) and L. v. parvus (Berlepsch, 1912). The white-winged shrike-tanager is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 17 g (0.60 oz). It has a shrike-like "toothed" bill with a hooked end. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a mostly black head with an olive forecrown. Their body is mostly ochraceous yellow with darker mottling on the rump, breast, and throat. Their wings are black with much white on the upperwing coverts and their tail is black. Adult females are mostly... Wikipedia →