Ornithologists have discovered a new genus and species of tanager on the lower slopes of the Andes in southeastern Peru and western Bolivia.
“The Inti tanager is thought to breed in the deciduous forest at the Bolivian site strictly during the rainy season, which runs from November to March, and spend the dry season dispersed along the lower slopes of the Andes as far west as Manu in Peru, the original site of discovery, occupying bamboo-dominated habitats.”
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/inti-ta ... 10232.html
Study into Plumage, Song Evolution in Tanagers Dispels Darwin’s Transfer Hypothesis
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science ... 02007.html
Thraupidae includes some of the most spectacularly colorful birds in the world (such as the Paradise Tanager) as well as more drab birds (like the Black-bellied Seedeater). The group also includes both accomplished and weak songsters alike.
The ornithologists examined museum specimens of 303 tanager species, using a spectrophotometer to measure nine aspects of plumage coloration, such as brilliance and contrast.
They took a similar approach to the birds’ songs, analyzing more than 2,700 recordings to measure 20 song variables including length, bandwidth, and number of syllables.
Finally, they compared how plumage and song complexity varied at each of the branches along a recently completed evolutionary tree of the tanager family.
“If there were going to be any group of birds at all that would show this trade-off, the tanagers would be a very good candidate, because there’s all this variation in song and plumage complexity. But when we dive into it and do some rigorous statistics, it turns out that there is no overall trend. Tanagers can be drab and plain-sounding, or colorful and musical, or anything in between,” Mr Mason said.
We have Western Tanagers around here, gone for winter already with the blue birds, hummers, vultures & bats.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager/