Multicolored Tanager Chlorochrysa nitidissima Scientific name definitions

One of three Chlorochrysa tanagers, the Colombian endemic and globally threatened Multicolored Tanager is a stunningly attractive bird. Males possess a yellow face and throat, a gleaming green nape, a black and chestnut patch on the neck, a yellow mantle and greenish-blue rump, green wings and tail, and bright blue underparts with black median breast and belly. Females are largely similar but duller, and lack the yellow mantle and any black on the underparts. Fairly common locally in the West Andes and north Central Andes of Colombia, this tanager inhabits humid, mossy forest mainly at elevations between 1300 and 2200 m. However, its numbers appear to have declined noticeably during the course of the last 50 years. The name Chlorochrysa nitidissima comes from Greek and Latin words; with Chlorochrysa derived from the Greek words khloros (green) and khrusos (gold), and nitidissima meaning "most brilliant", a superlative of the Latin word nitidus meaning “shining, glittering” (Jobling 2009). The common name in Spanish is the Tangara Multicolor (Hilty 2011, de Juana et al. 2012), or Clorocrisa Multicolor (Chaparro-Herrera et al. 2013, Fierro-Calderón and Johnston-González 2014).

Colombia: locally on both slopes of W Andes from Risaralda and extreme S Antioquia S to W Cauca (Munchique area); and C Andes at N end (Antioquia), on W slope (Quindío, and reported from Ucumari Regional Park, in Risaralda) and on E slope (Caldas).

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Colombian Inter-Andean Slopes EBA and Chocó EBA. Uncommon, local and declining. Since 1951 recorded at only two sites in C Andes, Ucumarí Regional Park (Risaralda) in early 1990s and, farther N, near Anorí (Antioquia) in 1999; in W Andes, almost all modern records are from localities in Valle del Cauca where access by ornithologists is possible. This species was formerly common, but has declined throughout range and is now recorded only infrequently and very locally, primarily in remnant forest fragments. Perhaps greatest number of recent sightings in W Andes in vicinity of Cali and N of there, including Pichindé Valley (unprotected), private forests near El 18 (Bosque de San Antonio, above Cali), Yotoco Forest Reserve, Tambito Nature Reserve and Farallones de Cali, as well as to S in Munchique National Park; also in C Andes at Otún-Quimbaya Sanctuary, in Ucumari section of Los Nevados National Park (Risaralda), and in Reserva Arrierito Antioquena (Piha Reserve) and adjacent Anorí area (N Antioquia). Other sites include Cañon del Río Barbas y Bremen (Risaralda), La Finca la Betulia–Reserva la Patasola (Quindío), La Forzosa–Santa-Gertrudis, and La Victoria. A few large tracts of intact habitat remain within its range (Farallones de Cali and Los Nevados National Parks; and Caramanta massif, near Cerro Tatamá, including Alto de Pisones area), but deforestation has been severe and continues. Furthermore, within its range an expanding network of roads is opening up ever more remote areas to logging, mining, agriculture and human occupation, all of which lead to more deforestation. This species’ range is now highly fragmented, and populations are in critical need of baseline monitoring data.