All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Brown-flanked Tanager
Brown-flanked Tanager | Thlypopsis pectoralis
Bruinflanktangare | Tangara pectoral | Saí-de-flanco-pardo
The Brown-flanked Tanager is a small tanager with a rufous head and breast and brown flanks, found only in the Andes of central Peru. It lives in scrub, forest edges and shrubby slopes in the mountain valleys. Pairs and small groups search the foliage for insects, often in mixed flocks.
Voice
High, thin tsit calls. The song is a short series of high, rapid notes.
Recording: Dan Lane — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13 cm, with a pointed, dark bill. The head, throat and breast are rufous to orange-rufous, the centre of the belly white. The flanks are warm brown to olive-brown, the feature that gives the species its name. The upperparts are greyish brown. The sexes are nearly alike. Juveniles are duller, with less rufous on the head and breast.
Confusion species
Rufous-chested Tanager Thlypopsis ornata has greyish flanks, a greyer back and a more extensive white belly. Rust-and-yellow Tanager Thlypopsis ruficeps has bright yellow underparts and an olive back.
Habitat
Scrub, forest edges, riparian woodland and open montane woodland in the valleys and on the slopes of the Andes, also around fields, roughly between 2000 and 3400 m. It searches leaves and twigs for insects, in pairs or small groups, often in mixed flocks. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Only in Peru, in the Andes of the centre of the country, mainly in the departments of Huánuco, Pasco and Junín. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search shrubby valleys and forest edges in the mountains of Huánuco and Junín. Watch for the brown flanks on birds with a rufous head and breast.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is small, but the species tolerates scrub and second growth.
Scientific name
Thlypopsis pectoralis | (Taczanowski, 1884)
Taczanowski described the species in 1884 as Nemosia pectoralis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Thlypopsis was introduced in 1851 by Cabanis. The genus name combines Greek thlupis, an unknown small bird, with opsis, 'appearance'. The species name is Latin pectoralis, 'of the breast', for the breast markings. The specimen the first description was based on came from Acancocha, Junín, Peru.