All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Opal-crowned Tanager
Opal-crowned Tanager | Tangara callophrys
Opaalkruintangare | Tangara opalina | Saíra-opala
The Opal-crowned Tanager is the largest member of its genus in the Amazonian lowlands: black and purplish blue, with a pale, opalescent band across the forehead and eyebrow and an equally pale rump. It lives high in the canopy of western Amazonian forest, usually in mixed tanager flocks. Its range is smaller than that of most Amazonian tanagers.
Voice
High, thin tsit calls and a sharp, dry chipping; inconspicuous.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14–15 cm. The forehead and a broad eyebrow to the hindcrown are pale opalescent, silvery straw-yellow with pink and green iridescence. The crown, nape, back and mantle are black, the rump as pale and opalescent as the head band. The face, throat and breast are deep violet-blue; the centre of the belly is black. The wings and tail are black with blue edges. The bill is black. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller with a less distinct head band.
Confusion species
Opal-rumped Tanager Tangara velia has a pale rump but a blue head without an opal band and a chestnut lower belly. Turquoise Tanager Tangara mexicana has a pale yellow belly and no pale head band. Black-faced Dacnis Dacnis lineata is smaller, with a pointed bill and a white belly.
Habitat
Canopy and edges of humid lowland forest in terra firme and várzea, also foothill forest at the base of the Andes, mostly below 1000 m. It eats small fruits and searches branches for insects, in pairs or small groups with mixed flocks.
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 south-east, in Amazonia; in Ecuador in the lowlands and foothills east of the Andes; in Peru in the north and centre of the lowlands east of the Andes, scarcer to the south; in Bolivia possibly only in the far north. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in western Amazonian Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
From canopy towers and walkways at lodges in Amazonian Ecuador and northern Peru, with mixed tanager flocks. The pale head band and rump stand out even at a distance.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Fairly scarce and living high in the canopy, but its habitat is largely intact; local deforestation.
Scientific name
Tangara callophrys | (Cabanis, 1849)
Cabanis described the species in 1849 as H[ypothlypis] callophrys; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Tangara was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. The genus name comes from the extinct Tupi language, in which tangara means 'dancer'. The specific name comes from Greek kallos, 'beauty', and ophrus, 'eyebrow', referring to the opal-coloured brow. The specimen the first description was based on came from Rio Solimões, Brazil.