White-throated Shrike-Tanager

About the White-throated Shrike-Tanager

The white-throated shrike-tanager (Lanio leucothorax) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The white-throated shrike-tanager was formally described in 1865 with its present binomial Lanio leucothorax. For a time it and the black-throated shrike-tanager (L. aurantius) were treated as conspecific. They form a superspecies.

The white-throated shrike-tanager has these four subspecies: L. l. leucothorax Salvin, 1865 L. l. reversus Bangs & Griscom, 1932 L. l. melanopygius Salvin & Godman, 1883 L. l. ictus Kennard & Peters, JL, 1927 The white-throated shrike-tanager is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long and weighs 30 to 45 g (1.1 to 1.6 oz). It has a shrike-like "toothed" bill with a hooked end. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies L. l. leucothorax have rich yellow upperparts. Their head, nape, wings, and tail are black, with white on the lesser wing coverts. Their chin is black, their throat white, their breast buff-tinged white, their belly and undertail coverts bright yellow, their thighs black, and... Wikipedia →