All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Yellow-scarfed Tanager
Yellow-scarfed Tanager | Iridosornis reinhardti
Goudbandtangare | Tangara de Reinhardt | Saíra-de-cachecol-amarelo
The Yellow-scarfed Tanager is endemic to Peru: a deep blue tanager with a black face and a broad yellow band across the hindcrown that runs from eye to eye. It lives in the understorey of cloud forest and elfin forest on the eastern slope of the Andes, usually in pairs or in mixed flocks.
Voice
Gives high, thin tseet notes and a dry chipping; the song is a rapid series of high, thin notes.
Recording: Mike Nelson — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17 cm. The plumage is deep blue, slightly paler and greyer blue below; wings and tail are blackish with blue edges. Forehead, face and throat are black. Behind the black, a broad golden-yellow band runs across the crown and hindcrown from eye to eye, like a scarf. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller, with a narrower, dull yellow band.
Confusion species
Golden-collared Tanager Iridosornis jelskii overlaps in part of the range, but is smaller, has a narrower yellow band and chestnut underparts. Golden-crowned Tanager Iridosornis rufivertex lives only in the far north of Peru, north of the Marañón, and has a yellow patch on the crown instead of a band. Yellow-throated Tanager Iridosornis analis lives lower and has a yellow throat.
Habitat
Humid upper montane forest, cloud forest and elfin forest up to the tree line, often with bamboo in the understorey, from about 2300 to 3500 m. It searches low to mid-height for insects and fruit, often in mixed flocks with brushfinches, hemispinguses and flowerpiercers. 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
Endemic to Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes from Amazonas and San Martín south of the Marañón to Cusco. Does not occur in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia or on the Galápagos.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search cloud forest and elfin forest on the eastern slope, for example in Huánuco at Carpish and Unchog; in mixed flocks in the understorey, look for a blue bird with a yellow band across the hindcrown.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Fairly common in suitable forest within a restricted range; sensitive to deforestation along the upper forest edge.
Scientific name
Iridosornis reinhardti | Sclater, 1865
Sclater described the species in 1865 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Iridosornis was introduced in 1844 by Lesson. The genus name comes from Greek iris, 'rainbow', and ornis, 'bird', thus 'rainbow bird'. The species name honours the Danish zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (1816–1882), curator and professor in Copenhagen. The specimen the first description was based on came from eastern Andean slope, Peru.