All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Grey-hooded Bush Tanager
Grey-hooded Bush Tanager | Cnemoscopus rubrirostris
Grijskoptangare | Tangara capuchigrís | Sanhaço-de-capuz-cinza
The Grey-hooded Bush Tanager is a slender tanager of the higher montane forest from Venezuela to Peru. The grey hood, yellow underparts and pink bill stand out, as does its habit of constantly flicking the tail. It usually travels with mixed flocks.
Voice
Inconspicuous: high, thin tsit calls and a short, soft series of high notes as song.
Recording: John V. Moore — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
15 cm, slender, with a fairly long tail. The head, throat and upper breast form a grey hood; the back, wings and tail are olive-green. The rest of the underparts is bright yellow. In the northern form the bill and legs are pink to flesh-coloured; birds from Peru have a darker bill and legs. The sexes are alike. Young birds are duller, with an olive-grey head.
Confusion species
Oleaginous Hemispingus Sphenopsis frontalis is plain olive-green with a faint yellow brow and lacks the grey hood. Black-capped Hemispingus Kleinothraupis atropileus has a black head with a white supercilium. Ashy-throated Chlorospingus Chlorospingus canigularis lives lower, has only a grey throat and a whitish belly, and a dark bill.
Habitat
Humid montane forest and cloud forest, mainly in the middle and upper strata and at forest edges, also in tall secondary forest, roughly between 2000 and 3300 m. It forages along branches and among leaves for insects, constantly flicking its tail, and moves with mixed flocks of other tanagers.
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 the Andes, mainly in the Central and Eastern Andes, locally also in the Western Andes. In Ecuador on both slopes of the Andes. In Peru on the east slope south to the centre of the country. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in western Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In mixed flocks in cloud forest, watch for a yellow bird with a grey hood that flicks its tail incessantly; the pink bill of northern birds can be seen at a distance.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated in the current taxonomy. The species is widespread and locally fairly common in continuous montane forest.
Scientific name
Cnemoscopus rubrirostris | (de Lafresnaye, 1840)
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1840 as Arremon rubrirostris; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cnemoscopus was introduced in 1919 by Bangs & Penard. The genus name comes from Greek knēmos, 'mountain slope', and skopos, 'searcher' or 'watcher'. The species name comes from Latin ruber, 'red', and -rostris, '-billed', referring to the pinkish-red bill. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.