Red-crowned ant tanager

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Red-crowned ant tanager
Habia rubica - Red-crowned Ant-Tanager (male).JPG
Male at Bertioga, São Paulo State, Brazil
Habia rubica -Miracatu, Sao Paulo, Brazil-8.jpg
Female at Miracatu, São Paulo State, Brazil
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae
Genus: Habia
Species:
H. rubica
Binomial name
Habia rubica
(Vieillot, 1817)
Habia rubica map.svg

The red-crowned ant tanager (Habia rubica) is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. The genus Habia was long placed with the tanagers (Thraupidae), but it is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant-tanagers is misleading, but no other common name has gained usage.

Contents

Taxonomy

The red-crowned ant tanager was formally described in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. He placed it in the genus Saltator (which he misspelled as Staltator) and coined the binomial name Saltator rubicus. He specified the locality as Paraguay. [2] [3] The specific epithet is from Medieval Latin rubicus meaning "reddish". [4] The red-crowned ant tanager is now placed in the genus Habia that was introduced in 1840 by Edward Blyth. [5]

There are 17 recognised subspecies: [5]

Description

The red-crowned ant tanagers is 17–19 cm (6.7–7.5 in) long and weighs 28–43 g (0.99–1.52 oz) (male) or 23–37 g (0.81–1.31 oz) (female). The adult male of the nominate subspecies is dull reddish brown with a brighter red throat and breast. The black-bordered scarlet crown stripe is raised when the bird is excited. The female is yellowish brown with a yellow throat and yellow-buff crown stripe. [6]

It is a shy but noisy bird. Its call is a rattle followed by a musical pee-pee-pee. [6]

Distribution and habitat

This bird is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Paraguay and northern Argentina, and on Trinidad. Common in its wide range, it is not considered threatened by the IUCN. [1] It favors the middle stratum of the forest as well as undergrowth rich in ferns, shrubs and herbs. [7]

Behavior

Food and feeding

These birds are found in pairs or family groups. They eat mainly arthropods, but berries are also taken. In Central America and Trinidad they frequently attend army ant columns, and in the lowland forests of southeastern Brazil they may be a nuclear species of understory mixed-species feeding flocks though further uphill, e.g. in the Serra de Paranapiacaba, they seem to join such flocks only rarely and prefer to follow the ants on their own. [8] They also follow South American coatis (Nasua nasua) on their feeding excursions, namely in the dry season. [9] In both cases, they are commensales, snatching invertebrate prey startled by the ants or coatis.

Breeding

The shallow cup nest is built by the female. It is usually placed in a sapling or tree fern near a stream. The normal clutch is two to three brown-blotched white eggs. These are incubated by the female for 13–14 days prior to hatching. The chicks are fed by both parents and leave the nest when about ten days old, before they are able to fly. They then hop around and hide in thick foliage. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardinalidae</span> Bird family

Cardinalidae is a family of New World-endemic passerine birds that consists of cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings. It also includes several other genera such as the tanager-like Piranga and the warbler-like Granatellus. Membership of this family is not easily defined by a single or even a set of physical characteristics, but instead by molecular work. Among songbirds, they range from average-sized to relatively large, and have stout features, some species with large, heavy bills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluish-grey saltator</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain-brown woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">White hawk</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-bellied elaenia</span> Species of bird

The yellow-bellied elaenia is a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula through Central and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical parula</span> Species of bird

The tropical parula is a small New World warbler. It breeds from southernmost Texas and northwest Mexico (Sonora) south through Central America to northern Argentina, including Trinidad and Tobago. This widespread and common species is not considered threatened by the IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivaceous woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

The olivaceous woodcreeper is a passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found from central Mexico south through every Central American country, on the island of Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Chile, French Guiana, and Suriname.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain antvireo</span> Species of bird

The plain antvireo is a passerine bird species in the antbird family (Thamnophilidae). It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-throated spadebill</span> Species of bird

The white-throated spadebill is a tiny passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It lives in the tropical Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The social flycatcher is a passerine bird from the Americas, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae).

A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are different from feeding aggregations, which are congregations of several species of bird at areas of high food availability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-billed pied tanager</span> Species of bird

The red-billed pied tanager is a species of bird in the family Mitrospingidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru and Suriname. Placed in family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers, for over two centuries, the International Ornithological Committee reclassified this species to Mitrospingidae in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-throated ant tanager</span> Species of bird

The red-throated ant tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird. This species is a resident breeder on the Caribbean slopes from southeastern Mexico to eastern Panama. It was usually considered an aberrant kind of tanager and placed in the Thraupidae, but is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant tanagers is misleading, but no other common name has gained usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squirrel cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The squirrel cuckoo is a large and active species of cuckoo found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. Some authorities have split off the western Mexican form as the Mexican squirrel-cuckoo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South American coati</span> Species of carnivore

The South American coati, also known as the ring-tailed coati, is a coati species and a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), found in the tropical and subtropical parts of South America. An adult generally weighs from 2–7.2 kg (4.4–15.9 lb) and is 85–113 cm (33–44 in) long, with half of that being its tail. Its color is highly variable and the rings on the tail may be only somewhat visible, but its most distinguishing characteristic is that it lacks the largely white snout of its northern relative, the white-nosed coati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-goggled tanager</span> Species of bird

The black-goggled tanager is a species of bird in the family, Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Trichothraupis. It is found at low levels in forest and woodland in a large part of eastern and southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina, with a disjunct population along the East Andean slope in Peru, Bolivia and far north-western Argentina. While generally common and widespread, and consequently considered to be of least concern by BirdLife International and IUCN, the population associated with the Andes is relatively local and uncommon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawn-breasted tanager</span> Species of bird

The fawn-breasted tanager is a species of tanager with a blue head and yellow breast. It occurs in the Andes of northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, as well as in the highlands of northeastern Argentina, south Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-backed tanager</span> Species of bird

The yellow-backed tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname; also extreme eastern Panama in Central America. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest.

Cymbopetalum mayanum is a species of plant in family Annonaceae. The specific epithet mayanum refers to the Mayan region in which it is indigenous, specifically the Atlantic lowlands of Guatemala and Honduras. It grows as a tree. It is endangered due to habitat loss from agriculture.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2020). "Habia rubica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T22722409A138397027. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22722409A138397027.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1817). Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc (in French). Vol. 14 (Nouvelle édition ed.). Paris: Deterville. p. 107.
  3. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 299.
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 339. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and (tanager) allies". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 Hilty, S.L. (2011). "Family Thraupidae (Tanagers)" . In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 46-329 [319]. ISBN   978-84-96553-78-1.
  7. de Lima Favaro, Fernando; dos Anjos, Luiz (2005). "Microhabitat de Habia rubica (Vieillot) e Trichothraupis melanops (Vieillot) (Aves, Emberizidae, Thraupinae), em uma floresta atlântica do sul do Brasil" [Microhabitat of Habia rubica (Vieillot) and Trichothraupis melanops (Vieillot) (Aves, Emberizidae, Thraupinae) in an Atlantic Forest, Southern Brazil](PDF). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia (in Portuguese). 22 (1): 213–217. doi: 10.1590/s0101-81752005000100026 .
  8. Machado, C.G (1999). "A composição dos bandos mistos de aves na Mata Atlântica da Serra de Paranapiacaba, no sudeste brasileiro" [Mixed flocks of birds in Atlantic Rain Forest in Serra de Paranapiacaba, southeastern Brazil](PDF). Revista Brasileira de Biologia (in Portuguese). 59 (1): 75–85. doi: 10.1590/S0034-71081999000100010 .
  9. de Mello Beisiegel, Beatriz (2007). "Foraging Association between Coatis (Nasua nasua) and Birds of the Atlantic Forest, Brazil". Biotropica. The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. 39 (2): 283–285. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00255.x.

Further reading