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Lemon-spectacled Tanager | Chlorothraupis olivacea
Geelbrauwtangare | Tangara olivácea | Tiê-de-óculos-amarelos
The Lemon-spectacled Tanager is a stocky, olive-green cardinal of the undergrowth of the Chocó rainforest, from eastern Panama to north-western Ecuador. The yellow spectacles and lores separate it from the related Chlorothraupis species. Noisy groups often form the core of mixed flocks in the lower levels of the forest.
Voice
Groups give a constant, nasal and harsh chatter, with repeated chek calls. At dawn the male sings a fast series of clear, whistled and varied phrases.
Recording: Catalina Orrego López — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17 cm, stocky, with a stout, dark bill. Dark olive-green above, slightly paler and yellower olive below. A bright yellow eye-ring and lores together form spectacles; the throat is yellow. The sexes are similar; the female is slightly duller, with less bright spectacles. Young birds are duller and have fainter spectacles.
Confusion species
Ochre-breasted Tanager Chlorothraupis stolzmanni lacks the yellow spectacles, has an ochre throat and breast and lives higher on the slopes. Carmiol's Tanager Chlorothraupis carmioli has no spectacles and occurs only near the border with Panama. Dusky-faced Tanager Mitrospingus cassinii has a dark grey face, a yellow crown and a pale iris.
Habitat
Undergrowth and mid-levels of very humid lowland and hill forest, also at forest edges and in older secondary forest, from sea level to about 1000 m. It lives in groups that travel with mixed flocks. It eats insects and other invertebrates, as well as fruit. The nest is a cup low in the vegetation.
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 Pacific lowlands and foothills of the Chocó, from the border with Panama southwards, and locally in the north-west up to the northern spurs of the Andes. In Ecuador in the north-west, in the lowlands and foothills of Esmeraldas and adjacent provinces. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area only in eastern Panama.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In wet forests of the Chocó, listen for the harsh chatter of a group in the undergrowth; in a mixed flock, look for olive-green birds with yellow spectacles.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species depends on humid forest and disappears where the Chocó forest is cleared or converted to farmland.
Scientific name
Chlorothraupis olivacea | (Cassin, 1860)
Cassin described the species in 1860 as Orthogonys olivaceus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlorothraupis was introduced in 1883 by Salvin & Godman. The genus name comes from Greek khlōros, 'green', and thraupis, an unidentified small bird mentioned by Aristotle, used for tanagers. The species name is New Latin olivaceus, 'olive-green'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Río Truandó, Chocó, Colombia.