The spangle-cheeked tanager (''Tangara dowii'') is a medium-sized

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

. This

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird 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% of the Neotrop ...

is an endemic resident breeder in the highlands of Costa Rica and western

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. Formerly considered conspecific with the

green-naped tanager The green-naped tanager (''Tangara fucosa'') is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Colombia and Panama. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat ...

, it is now known that these two species differ geographically and genetically. It is common from about altitude in the canopy of epiphyte-laden wet mountain forests, and at lower levels in semi-open areas like clearings with trees, second growth and woodland edges. The bulky cup nest, lined with

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa ...

leaves, is built in a tree fork or on a branch high amongst the epiphytes. The normal clutch is two eggs. The adult spangle-cheeked tanager is long and weighs . It has a mainly black head, upperparts and breast, with blue scaling on the breast, sides of the face and neck, and a rufous crown patch. The wings and tail have blue edgings. The rump is green and the belly is cinnamon. The sexes are very similar, but adult males have more extensive blue scaling. Immatures are generally duller, with no crown patch, and less distinct blue scaling. Spangle-cheeked tanagers occur in pairs, family groups, or as part of a

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

(particularly those containing common bush tanagers). They eat small

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

, usually swallowed whole,

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

s. The spangle-cheeked tanager's call is a high ''tsip''.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1042037 spangle-cheeked tanager Birds of the Talamancan montane forests spangle-cheeked tanager spangle-cheeked tanager