The dusky-faced tanager (''Mitrospingus cassinii'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Mitrospingidae The Mitrospingidae is a family of passerine birds. It consists of three genera and four species. The family is found in South America and southern Central America. The family was identified in 2013, and consists of birds that have been traditiona ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

.Ocampo, D. and A. Montoya (2020). Dusky-faced Tanager (''Mitrospingus cassinii''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.duftan1.01 retrieved May 13, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The dusky-faced tanager and the three other species in family Mitrospingidae were previously placed in family

Thraupidae The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

, the "true" tanagers. A 2013 publication detailed how they did not belong there and proposed the new family for them. The North and South American Classification Committees of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

accepted the new placement in July 2017 and March 2019, respectively.R. Terry Chesser, Kevin J. Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s ''Check-list of North American Birds''". ''The Auk'' 2017, vol. 134:751-773 retrieved July 7, 2017Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021 The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC) followed suit in January 2018. The dusky-faced tanager has two subspecies, the nominate ''Mitrospingus cassinii cassinii'' and ''M. c. costaricensis''.

Description

The two subspecies are "very poorly differentiated." The adults are long and weigh . Their crown and nape are mustard yellow. The face has a large black "mask". Their upper parts are lead gray. The throat is light gray transitioning to olive yellow on the breast and flanks and further to a gray-olive-yellow blend on the belly. The juvenile is similar but has less yellow on the crown and a buffy tinge to the underparts.

Distribution and habitat

The dusky-faced tanager of subspecies ''M. c. costaricensis'' is found along the Caribbean coast from Costa Rica's

Heredia Province Heredia () is a province of Costa Rica. It is in the north-central part of the country. As a result, the province covers areas as diverse as the agriculture-rich Northern plains to the more metropolitan areas such as the city of Heredia in the Ce ...

south to extreme northwestern Panama. The nominate is found on both slopes of western Panama south through western Colombia to

Guayas Province Guayas (, ) is a coastal Provinces of Ecuador, province in Ecuador. It is bordered to the west by Manabí Province, Manabí, Santa Elena Province, Ecuador, Santa Elena, and the Pacific Ocean (as the Gulf of Guayaquil); to the east by Los Ríos ...

in Ecuador. It also occurs on the east slope of Colombia's Central Andes. The dusky-face tanager inhabits low dense shrubbery, thickets, and second growth. It is found along forest edges, gaps in forest, and along forest streams and swampy areas. In Costa Rica it generally ranges up to but can be found up to . Its upper limit in Panama is . In Colombia it is mostly below though it has been recorded up to . In Ecuador it can be found as high as .

Behavior

Feeding

The dusky-faced tanager appears to primarily eat fruits, though it also eats insects and seeds.

Breeding

The dusky-faced tanager's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

has not been thoroughly studied. Breeding or breeding-condition birds have been recorded between March and May from Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. Two well-described nests were cups suspended in shrubs. The apparent clutch size is two, and nestlings were attended by at least three adults.

Vocalization

The dusky-faced tanager's dawn song is "''seety'', ''seety'', ''seety'', ''seety'', ''seety''

They chatter all day long with "sputtering notes such as ''chet'' or ''chet-ut''

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the dusky-faced tanager as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and the population appears to be stable. It occurs in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1590528

dusky-faced tanager The dusky-faced tanager (''Mitrospingus cassinii'') is a species of bird in the family Mitrospingidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama.Ocampo, D. and A. Montoya (2020). Dusky-faced Tanager (''Mitrospingus cassinii''), v ...

Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Birds of Colombia

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot