Golden-backed Mountain Tanager (Cnemathraupis aureodorsalis) — Vorstman's Guide to the Birds of the Andes and West Coast

Voice

Poorly documented; small groups give loud, ringing notes and a husky chatter.

Listen: CallXC189608

Recording: Andrew Spencer — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto

Identification

22 cm, with a stout black bill. The crown is blue; the rest of the head and the throat are black. The back and rump are golden orange. The underparts are golden yellow to orange-yellow, with rufous streaks on the breast and flanks. The wings and tail are black. The sexes are alike.

Confusion species

Hooded Mountain Tanager Buthraupis montana has an all-black head, a blue back, unstreaked yellow underparts and red eyes. Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager Anisognathus igniventris is smaller, black with a scarlet belly and ear patch and blue shoulders.

Habitat

Elfin forest, mossy scrub forest and forest edges at the tree line, also edges of Polylepis woodland and the transition to humid grassland, from about 3000 to 3500 m. It forages in pairs or small groups, often with mixed flocks, for fruit and insects. 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

Does not occur in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia or on the Galápagos. In Peru only in the Andes of the centre of the country, east of the Marañón, from La Libertad to Huánuco and Pasco. Not known outside the guide area.

Resident
dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Density map from the occurrence records of GBIF (2006-10-01 – 2026-09-30), counted per 1.41° grid cell and per month and divided by all bird records in that same cell — so the number of birdwatchers does not shape the picture. Colour depth follows that share and fades out gradually, so the map does not follow national borders. Country outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).

How and when to look

Bosque Unchog in Huánuco is a well-known site; search elfin forest around the tree line in the early morning, where small groups travel with mixed flocks.

Conservation status

Near Threatened. The small range lies within a narrow altitudinal belt; forest at the tree line is being lost to fires and grazing.

Scientific name

Cnemathraupis aureodorsalis | (Blake & Hocking, 1974)

Blake & Hocking described the species in 1974 as Buthraupis aureodorsalis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cnemathraupis was introduced in 1919 by Penard. The genus name combines Greek knēmē, 'leg, shin', with thraupis, an unidentified small bird. The species name comes from Latin aureus, 'golden', and dorsum, 'back', referring to the golden back. The specimen the first description was based on came from Central Peru.