Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Thraupidae
Genus
Stilpnia
Surprise Me
Previous Lesser Antillean Tanager
Next Masked Tanager
- Scrub Tanager
© Andres Vasquez Noboa
- Scrub Tanager
- Scrub Tanager
+3
- Scrub Tanager
- Scrub Tanager
- Scrub Tanager
- Scrub Tanager
Watch
- Scrub Tanager
Listen

Scrub Tanager Stilpnia vitriolina Scientific name definitions

Steven Hilty
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2011

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

The Scrub Tanager is a common open country bird of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. Due to its preference for scrub and burshy areas, it is most easily found in dry intermontane ‘rainshadow’ valleys but is expanding into more humid areas in the wake of human disturbance. Though quite drab relative to the other members of this spectacular genus, the Scrub Tanager is still attractive and identified by its silvery greenish plumage, rust-colored cap and black mask. In further contrast to this typically gregarious genus, the Scrub Tanager most often is encountered as solitary pairs, although it occasionally joins other species at fruiting trees.

Field Identification

14 cm; 18·4–26·8 g. Relatively dull tanager, with dingier plumage than that of congeners. Male has crown rufous, lores, ocular area and postocular area dusky, forming fairly conspicuous blackish mask; upperparts mainly shining greyish-green to shining silvery green, rump paler opalescent green, uppertail-coverts shining greyish-green (like back); central tail feathers dull greyish-blue, outer feathers dusky with outer half dull greyish-blue, outermost pair with faint blue-green edges; upperwing-coverts dusky, lesser and median coverts broadly tipped dull pale green, greater coverts with distal half of each feather dull pale green, primary coverts, flight-feathers and tertials blackish, prominently edged pale blue-green; throat, chest, breast and sides shining pale bluish-grey to greenish-grey (varies with light, but typically with bluish tinge), centre of lower breast and belly pale glaucous, tinged buff, undertail-coverts buff to whitish-buff; iris brown; bill greyish-horn; legs dusky horn. Female is generally similar to male, but duller, with back and rump dull pale greyish-green (not bluish), tail tinged greenish, wing-coverts and flight-feathers edged paler glaucous-green (not blue-green), throat and underparts dull greyish with only hint of greenish-blue, and lower breast lacking bluish tinge, belly and undertail-coverts more extensively buffy. Juvenile is almost completely dingy pale brownish-grey and devoid of markings; immature much duller than adult, but typically some rufous coloration on crown and indication of darker face mask, sometimes weak greenish tinge on back, wing-coverts and flight-feathers, and throat buffy white, underparts dull.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Colombia from Pacific slope of W Andes E to W slope of E Andes (Norte de Santander) and E slope of E Andes (E Cauca), S to NW Ecuador.

Habitat

Dry scrubby or cultivated areas, overgrown pastures, agricultural areas, brushy fence rows, and arid intermontane valleys; often around human habitations. Mostly 500–2200 m (recorded 300–3000 m) in Colombia; 800–2500 m, occasionally higher, in Ecuador.

Movement

Apparently resident.

Diet and Foraging

Fruits and arthropods. May take more insects than fruit; recorded taking melastome berries. One stomach contained insects. Usually seen singly, in pairs and in families; commonly comes to fruiting trees, often when other birds present, but rarely found with mixed-species flocks. Forages from low in shrubs to tops of tall trees and. Forages by hopping and peering, behaviour somewhat like that of a vireo (Vireonidae); occasionally also peers head down on alternate sides of branches, as do many congeners. Also peers in outer foliage, epiphytes, flowers and seedheads.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call a shrill, buzzy “ziit”. Song lisping and buzzy, beginning slowly, then accelerating quickly into buzzing or pulsating trill, “slip...slip, slip slip-sit’sit’it’it’it’it’it’it’it’iiiiiiiii’i’it’it”, typically repeated a few times at short intervals, then not heard again for long periods.

Breeding

May breed most of year: in Colombia, fledglings in Feb and juvenile with adult in Mar in Cauca, fledglings in May in Cundinamarca, adults carrying food in mid-Aug in W Valle, and four birds in breeding condition Jun–Aug at N end of W & C Andes, one in Jan in upper Magdalena Valley, two in Mar near Cali and one in Nov in upper Patía Valley. Open cup-nest of moss and fine fibres, near Bogotá placed 3–6 m above ground near end of branch. Clutch 2 eggs, white or tinged blue, green or cream, and boldly marked with lilac and/or brown, especially at large end. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Common. Has expanded its range as a result of deforestation and increased disturbance, and is now found in wetter regions and at higher elevations than in the past. Believed to have arrived in 1960s on Sabana de Bogotá (2600 m), where remained rare until 1990s, but now well established. Similarly, following deforestation, has extended locally into wet Chocó–Pacific slope, a locality where formerly did not occur; more recently still, has been found on E slope of E Andes in E Cauca, where it has followed clearings and settlement. Does not face any significant threats in immediate or longer term.
Distribution of the Scrub Tanager - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Scrub Tanager

eBird and Macaulay Library

The Cornell Lab logo
Data provided by eBird

Scrub Tanager

Stilpnia vitriolina

Abundance

Estimates of relative abundance for every week of the year animated to show movement patterns. Relative abundance is the estimated average count of individuals detected by an eBirder during a 1 hour, 1 kilometer traveling checklist at the optimal time of day for each species.   Learn more about this data

Relative abundance
0.2
0.59
1.1
Week of the year
Modeled area
(0 abundance)
No prediction
Learn more about predictions

eBird data from -. Estimated for .

Fink, D., T. Auer, A. Johnston, M. Strimas-Mackey, S. Ligocki, O. Robinson, W. Hochachka, L. Jaromczyk, C. Crowley, K. Dunham, A. Stillman, I. Davies, A. Rodewald, V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, C. Wood. 2023. eBird Status and Trends, Data Version: 2022; Released: 2023. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://doi.org/10.2173/ebirdst.2022

Explore more on eBird
Scrub Tanager, Abundance map
The Cornell Lab logo
Data provided by eBird

Scrub Tanager

Stilpnia vitriolina

Abundance

Relative abundance is depicted for each season along a color gradient from a light color indicating lower relative abundance to a dark color indicating a higher relative abundance. Relative abundance is the estimated average count of individuals detected by an eBirder during a 1 hour, 1 kilometer traveling checklist at the optimal time of day for each species.   Learn more about this data

Relative abundance
Year-round
0.1
0.59
1.1
Modeled area
(0 abundance)
No prediction
Learn more about predictions

eBird data from -. Estimated for .

Fink, D., T. Auer, A. Johnston, M. Strimas-Mackey, S. Ligocki, O. Robinson, W. Hochachka, L. Jaromczyk, C. Crowley, K. Dunham, A. Stillman, I. Davies, A. Rodewald, V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, C. Wood. 2023. eBird Status and Trends, Data Version: 2022; Released: 2023. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://doi.org/10.2173/ebirdst.2022

Enlarge
Explore more on eBird

Recommended Citation

Hilty, S. (2020). Scrub Tanager (Stilpnia vitriolina), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.scrtan1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos