About Ixothraupis guttata (Cabanis, 1851)
The speckled tanager, Ixothraupis guttata, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, and northern Brazil. There are also confirmed sight records of the species from French Guiana. It is probably a close relative of the spotted tanager (I. punctata), which replaces the speckled tanager in regions further south. The two species are generally assumed to be fully allopatric, but they may actually be parapatric: in 1998, a speckled tanager was found in Colombia’s Serranía de los Churumbelos, just 160 km (99 mi) north of the confirmed range of spotted tanagers. Adult speckled tanagers measure 13.2 cm (5.2 in) in length and weigh 18 g (0.63 oz). Their upperparts are green with black spotting, and their face is yellow with a black line running from the eye to the gape. Their wings and tail are black, edged with green, and their underparts are white with black spotting. The sexes have identical plumage. The speckled tanager’s flight call is a weak metallic chirping tsip. The Trinidadian subspecies I. g. trinitatis has brighter, more extensive yellow on the head, and its black spotting is more conspicuous. Ixothraupis guttata is more of a subtropical species than its close relative the spotted tanager, and it lives in humid montane and secondary forest, which typically has not very tall trees and a dense understory. Speckled tanagers are social birds. Their diet consists mainly of fruit, with some insects added. They are often seen in the company of bay-headed tanagers and honeycreepers. The species builds a small cup nest in a tree. The typical clutch contains two white eggs marked with brown blotches. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days until hatching, and the chicks fledge 15 days after hatching.
