Red-throated Ant-Tanager
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| Habia fuscicauda (Cabanis, 1861) |
The Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Habia fuscicauda, is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder on the Caribbean slopes from southeastern Mexico to eastern Panama.
It occurs in thick undergrowth at the edge of forest, second growth or abandoned plantations at altitudes from sea level to 600 m. The large but untidy cup nest is usually built 1-3 m high in the fork of a shrub or tree, and is often decorated with living ferns. The normal clutch is two or three white eggs laid from April to June.
Red-throated Ant-Tanagers are 19 cm long and weigh 40 g. Adult males are dull dusky red, somewhat paler below, and with a bright red throat and central crown. The female is brownish olive, paler and greyer below, and with a yellow throat and small dull yellow crown stripe. Young birds are brown and lack the throat and crown patches.
Both sexes of this species are duller and darker than the related Red-crowned Ant-Tanager which occurs on the Pacific slope in its Central American range.
These birds are found in pairs or small groups. They eat insects, arthropods and fruit, and will follow army ant columns especially in lowlands where antbirds are uncommon. The flock will give a defensive spread-wing-and-tail display to deter potential predators.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Habia fuscicauda. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
