Black-throated Shrike-Tanager

About the Black-throated Shrike-Tanager

The black-throated shrike-tanager (Lanio aurantius) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. The black-throated shrike-tanager was formally described in 1846 with the binomial Lanio Aurantius [sic]. For a time it and the white-throated shrike-tanager (L. leucothorax) were treated as conspecific. They form a superspecies.

The black-throated shrike-tanager is monotypic. The black-throated shrike-tanager is 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long. It has a shrike-like "toothed" bill with a hooked end. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a bright yellow body with a faint brownish ochre wash on the breast. Their head, nape, throat, wings, and tail are black, with white tips on the lesser wing coverts. Adult females have a gray head with an olive tinge on the crown. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are tawny-brown with a strong rufescent tinge on the rump and tail. Their throat is gray, their breast and belly yellow, and their undertail coverts ochre. Their breast, sides, and flanks have an olive wash. Both sexes have a dark brown iris and blackish... Wikipedia →