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Western Chat-Tanager | Calyptophilus tertius
Westelijke tapuittangare | Chirrí de Bahoruco
The Western Chat-Tanager is one of the two species of the family Calyptophilidae, found only on Hispaniola. For a long time both were placed with the tanagers and treated as a single species; the family is now separated and the two species have been split. It is a shy bird of dense undergrowth in the mountains of the south-west of the island, noticed mainly by its loud song at dawn. The genus name Calyptophilus refers to this hidden way of life.
Voice
Both sexes sing, mainly in the half-light of early morning: loud, varied, whistled phrases, often repeated. Also a sharp, dry chek.
Recording: Aidan Place — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
20–21 cm, with a long, often cocked tail, strong legs and a pointed bill, giving a thrush- or thrasher-like look. The head is dark olive-brown with a blackish crown; in front of the eye is a small yellow to rusty spot, and the bend of the wing is yellow. The upperparts are dark rufous-brown. Throat and central underparts are white, the flanks and lower belly grey-brown. The sexes are alike. The species is larger and heavier than the Eastern Chat-Tanager.
Confusion species
Eastern Chat-Tanager Calyptophilus frugivorus is smaller and lives in other mountain ranges; where the two might be met in the field, locality is the best guide. Black-crowned Palm-tanager Phaenicophilus palmarum and Grey-crowned Palm-tanager Phaenicophilus poliocephalus are smaller, with a green back and white spots around the eye. La Selle Thrush Turdus swalesi is larger, with a rufous belly.
Habitat
Broadleaf montane forest, cloud forest and dense scrub, especially in ravines and near water, between about 750 and 2200 m. It lives on or just above the ground, searching the leaf litter for insects and other invertebrates; it also takes some fruit. The nest is a bulky, domed structure of plant material 1–1.5 m above the ground; the clutch is usually two eggs and both parents care for the young. The breeding season probably runs from May to July.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Only on Hispaniola: in the Massif de la Hotte and Massif de la Selle in south-western Haiti and the adjoining Sierra de Bahoruco in south-western Dominican Republic.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The upper Sierra de Bahoruco, along the road to Zapotén on the Haitian border, is the most visited site. The bird sings at first light and can be located then; afterwards it mostly stays in the undergrowth of ravines and is seen mainly briefly when it crosses a forest track.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The world population is estimated at 6,700–13,300 mature individuals and is thought to be declining. Threats are logging and conversion of forest to farmland, also in protected areas, and nest predation by rats and feral cats. In Haiti most of the montane forest has gone.
Scientific name
Calyptophilus tertius | Wetmore, 1929
Wetmore described the species in 1929 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Calyptophilus was introduced in 1884 by Cory. Calyptophilus is Greek, from kaluptō 'to hide' and philos 'lover', after its skulking life in dense undergrowth. tertius is Latin for 'third', presumably because this was the third form of the genus to be described. The specimen the first description was based on came from upper slopes of Morne La Hotte, Haiti.