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Tawny-capped Euphonia | Euphonia anneae
Bruinkaporganist | Eufonia coronirrufa
The Tawny-capped Euphonia is a euphonia of humid montane and foothill forest in Costa Rica and Panama, with a small outpost in extreme north-western Colombia. The male is the only euphonia in the guide area with a tawny rather than yellow crown. It lives higher on the slopes than most other euphonias.
Voice
The call is a clear, somewhat rasping chee-chee or cheet, often repeated a few times. The song is a short series of clear whistles and chirps.
Recording: Jerome Fischer — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm. Stocky, with a short, thick bill; slightly larger than most euphonias. Male: upperparts, sides of head and throat glossy dark steel-blue; crown warm tawny. Breast and belly yellow, undertail coverts white to pale buff. Female: upperparts olive-green with a rufous forehead; throat and flanks olive-yellow, centre of belly grey.
Confusion species
The male is unmistakable thanks to its tawny crown. The female resembles the female Orange-bellied Euphonia Euphonia xanthogaster, which also has a rufous forehead and a grey belly, but in addition a grey nape. The female Spot-crowned Euphonia Euphonia imitans lives lower, in the lowlands of south-western Costa Rica, and has an ochre-yellow rather than grey belly.
Habitat
Humid montane and foothill forest, mainly in the middle storey and canopy, also along forest edges and in tall secondary forest; mainly between about 600 and 1800 m, sometimes lower. It lives in pairs or small groups and often joins mixed flocks with tanagers. It feeds mainly on mistletoe berries and small fruit, and also on insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama, mainly on the Caribbean side, east to Darién. Outside the guide area only in extreme north-western Colombia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Tawny-capped Euphonia is best looked for in mixed flocks along the edges of montane forest at middle elevations; the male's tawny crown stands out even from below.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Fairly common in suitable montane forest; vulnerable to clearing of mid-elevation forest for agriculture and cattle ranching.
Scientific name
Euphonia anneae | Cassin, 1865
Cassin described the species in 1865 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Euphonia was introduced in 1806 by Desmarest, A-G. Euphonia is Greek, from eu 'good' and phōnē 'sound': 'sweet-voiced', after the pleasing calls. anneae honours Ann Eliza Elliot, née Henderson, wife of the American ornithologist Daniel Giraud Elliot. The specimen the first description was based on came from Santa Rosa, Costa Rica.