Ixothraupis guttata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 the north of Brazil. There are also sight records from French Guiana.
It is probably a close relative of the spotted tanager (I. punctata) which replaces it to the south. These two species are generally presumably to be fully allopatric, but may actually be parapatric: in 1998 a speckled tanager was found in the Serranía de los Churumbelos (Colombia), just about 160 km (99 mi) north of where spotted tanagers are known to occur.
Adult speckled tanagers are 13.2 cm (5.2 in) long and weigh 18 g (0.63 oz). The upperparts are green with black spotting, and the face is yellow with a black line from the eye to the gape. The wings and tail are black edged with green, and the underparts are white spotted with black. The sexes are similar. The speckled tanager's flight call is a weak metallic chirping tsip.
The Trinidadian subspecies I. g. trinitatis has brighter and more extensive yellow on the head, and the black spotting is more conspicuous. Ixothraupis guttata is more of a subtropical species than its relative and occurs in humid montane and secondary forest, with generally not very tall trees and a dense understory. Speckled tanagers are social birds which eat mainly fruit and some insects. They are often seen with bay-headed tanagers and honeycreepers.
The small cup nest is built in a tree and the normal clutch is two brown-blotched white eggs. The female incubates the eggs for 13 days to hatching, with another 15 days before the chicks fledge. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 4 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Speckled Tanager sighting in Caracas on a given day, based on 441 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 88th most-seen of the 295 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June–September and November–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Speckled Tanager in Caracas on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Speckled Tanager sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Speckled Tanager sightings, Caracas has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come San José (Costa Rica, under 5%).
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Speckled Tanager that you can see in Caracas (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Blue-gray Tanager (about 90%), Saffron Finch (about 60%) and Bananaquit (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Speckled Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Caracas (441 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
