All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Golden-naped Tanager
Golden-naped Tanager | Chalcothraupis ruficervix
Goudnektangare | Tangara nuquidorada | Saíra-de-nuca-dourada
The Golden-naped Tanager is a small, mainly turquoise-blue tanager of montane forest on both slopes of the Andes, from Colombia to Bolivia. The name refers to the golden-yellow, black-bordered band on the hindcrown; in the south of the range this band is rufous.
Voice
Gives high, thin tsit and tseet notes; the song is a short series of high, thin notes.
Recording: Nunes-de-Almeida — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13 cm. The plumage is turquoise-blue to blue-green, with a black forehead and black lores and chin. Across the hindcrown lies a golden-yellow to rufous band, bordered on both sides with black. The centre of the belly and the undertail coverts are ochre-buff. The female is duller, with a less sharply defined nape band. Juveniles are greyish blue without a clear nape band.
Confusion species
Blue-necked Tanager Stilpnia cyanicollis has a blue head but a black back and breast. Blue-and-black Tanager Tangara vassorii is deep blue with black wings and tail and has no coloured nape band. Beryl-spangled Tanager Tangara nigroviridis is black with pale blue and green spots and has a black mask.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest, forest edges, clearings with trees and secondary woodland, mostly from about 1100 to 2500 m. It forages in pairs or small groups with mixed flocks in the canopy and middle storey, picking insects from branches and leaves and eating small fruit and berries. The nest is a cup in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in all three Andean ranges. In Ecuador on both slopes of the Andes. In Peru on the eastern slope from north to south. In Bolivia on the eastern slope in La Paz and Cochabamba. Does not occur on the Galápagos. Not known outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search fruiting trees and mixed flocks along forest edges and roads in cloud forest, for example around Mindo in Ecuador or along the road through the Manu area in Peru; the birds often perch high on thin branches.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated in this treatment. Fairly common in suitable montane forest; tolerates forest edges and secondary woodland.
Scientific name
Chalcothraupis ruficervix | (Prévost & des Murs, 1842)
Prévost & des Murs described the species in 1842 as Tanagra ruficervix; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chalcothraupis was introduced in 1851 by Bonaparte. The genus name comes from Greek khalkos, 'bronze', and thraupis, an unidentified small bird. The species name comes from Latin rufus, 'red', and cervix, 'nape', referring to the coloured nape patch. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.