White-capped Tanager Sericossypha albocristata Scientific name definitions

The stunning and bizarre White-capped Tanager is rare and local in Andean cloud forests from Colombia to central Peru. It is large and black, with a brilliant white cap and, in the male, a crimson throat and upper breast. Females and particularly immatures are duller on the throat, but still display the characteristic white cap and dark plumage. This bird behaves oddly for a tanager, traveling in groups that wander widely over forested slopes, perching prominently and occasionally joining groups of jays or other birds. Also unusual for a tanager in that they are frequently first detected by their harsh, descending call.

The spectacular White-capped Tanager is the largest of the tanagers. The male has a velvety black body with a bright crimson throat and chest and a very distinctive white cap, giving it its name. The female is similar to the male, but with a darker, almost purple throat and chest. Its scientific name Sericossypha albocristata has Greek and Latin origins. The genus, Sericossypha, comes from two Greek words, “serikos” meaning silken, and “kossuphos” meaning blackbird. The specific epithet, albocristata, comes from two Latin words, “albus” meaning white and “cristatus” meaning crested (Jobling 2010). The name of this species literally translates to silken blackbird with a white crown, which precisely describes the appearance of the bird.

Adult: This spectacular bird is unmistakable due to its conspicuous white crown and crimson throat. The male has a velvety black body with glossy bluish black wings and tail and a distinctive snowy white crown that extends into lores and is fairly plush-like (Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978). The throat and chest are a bright crimson. Female is similar but with dusky crimson, almost purple, on throat and chest that is less conspicuous than in the male (Hilty 2011). This species was shown to be highly sexually dichromatic in a quantitative analysis of reflectance spectrophotometry data (Burns and Shultz 2012).

Immature: entirely black with a black bib and snowy white crown (Ridgely and Tudor 1989).

Juvenile: only slight red on chin and upper throat with a buffy-gray tint on the top of its head (Restall et al. 2007).

This species is very unique in appearance. However, its call may be confused with the Turquoise Jay (Ridgely and Tudor 2009), which has a loud, hissing “jeeyr” call (Ridgely and Greenfield 2001b). The Turquoise Jay occurs mainly in Ecuador and nearby areas of southern Colombia and northern Peru.

Tanagers that have been studied have either a Complex Basic Strategy or Complex Alternative Strategy (Ryder and Wolf 2009). However, most tanagers only molt once a year (Isler and Isler 1987), and this prebasic molt likely occurs after the breeding season (Isler and Isler 1987, Ryder and Wolfe 2009). Many species have been found to breed in subadult plumage (Isler and Isler 1987). Although a juvenile and immature plumage is described for Sericossypha albocristata (Hilty 2011), more specific information on molt and its timing is not available for this species.

The White-capped Tanager has a dark brown iris with a stout, blackish bill and dusky gray legs (Hilty 2011).

Both sexes have an average weight of 114 g, making it the heaviest of the tanagers. Minimum of 95.0 g; Maximum of 125.0 g. The average length is 24 cm (Isler and Isler 1987).

Monotypic.

Sericossypha albocristata is a member of family Thraupidae, and the subfamily Nemosiinae, which are the Flock-dwelling Tanagers. The genus Sericossypha only contains one species, and is sister to Compsothraupis loricata (Burns et al. 2014). The taxonomic placement of this bird was debated for some time, with several suggestions that it may be a cotinga (Hellmayr 1936, Sclater 1886). However, an in-depth analyses of its skeletal structure showed that S. albocristata shared skeletal characters with tanagers, not cotingas (Morony 1985). Later DNA studies agreed, showing it was a tanager (Burns 1997, Burns et al. 2003) and sister to Compsothraupis loricata with strong support (Burns et al. 2014). Some authors have considered the two species as congeneric (Zimmer 1947, Meyer de Schauensee 1966, 1970; Sick 1993), but they differ in habitat, geographic range, behavior, and appearance (Isler and Isler 1987).

The White-capped Tanager is present in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador (Isler and Isler 1987). It is found on the eastern slope of the central Andes, near the border between Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, and on the western slope of the central Andes in Cauca, Colombia. This species is also found in the upper Magdalena Valley in Huila, Colombia, as well as on the eastern slope of the Andes, from Táchira, Venezuela down into the Junín province of Peru. They occur at an elevation of 1600 to 3200 m (Isler and Isler 1987). The center of elevational abundance is in the middle montane zone (Parker et al. 1996). This species occurs in the Northern Andes and Central Andes zoogeographic regions (Parker et al. 1996).

Endemic to South America.

This species generally inhabits humid, wet montane forest. It is most common at higher, mossy forest and less common along forest borders or tall second growth (Hilty 2011). The White-capped Tanager is locally distributed and fairly scarce (Isler and Isler 1987). Parker et al. (1996) list only montane evergreen forest as the habitat for this species.

Isler and Isler (1987) examined specimen tags of seven birds in the LSU Museum of Natural Sciences; two of these birds had only vegetable matter, four had only animal matter, and one had both. The stomach contents of these specimens included seeds, fruit, pulp, wasps, ants, coleopterans, bees, dipteran larvae, and a snail shell. White-capped Tanagers have also been observed eating paper wasp larvae, and this material strongly resembled that which was fed to nestlings by several adults (Greeney et al. 2007).

The White-capped Tanager is very noisy and often heard well before it is seen. Vocalizations are often described as jay-like, with many piecing notes including “kip,” “keep,” “peeeaap,” “peeer,” and “peeeur” (Isler and Isler 1987). The notes may be frequent (about 40 notes/minute) or irregular, and can continue for some time (up to 9 minutes recorded) (Restall et al. 2007, Hilty 2011). Several members in a flock often call simultaneously (Isler and Isler 1987), with several other individuals responding to the first individual’s call. Additional audio recordings of vocalizations of Sericossypha albocristata can be heard at Macaulay Library and xeno-canto.

None reported.

Typically, this species travels and forages in wide-ranging groups that usually contain 4 to 8 individuals but flocks with up to 20 individuals have been reported. Groups tend to only contain one adult male, indicating that they may be family groups (Hilty 2011). Generally, they are not in mixed-species flocks, but they sometimes associate with other birds such as jays (Corvidae) or mountain caciques (Cacicus) (Hilty 2011). S. albocristata usually forages up high or in the canopy of trees, but also sometimes in tops of bushes or smaller trees near the border of a forest. They behave similarly to jays in the way that they peer, posture, and cock their tails (Hilty 2011). They often call mid-flight and mob intruders in a similar manner to jays (Schulenberg et al. 2007). They also hop and leap through the trees. Members of a flock tend to forage in several trees in a small area, then travel together to another area, which may be nearby or a long distance (up to hundreds of meters away). This suggests that their foraging ranges are probably very large (Hilty 2011).

The White-capped Tanager typically travels in a group of 4 to 8 individuals, but occasionally up to 20 individuals. They are typically not in mixed flocks, but sometimes associated with jays or caciques (Hilty 2011).

There is only one recorded sighting of a nest of the White-capped Tanager. Greeney et al. (2007) observed one active nest in eastern Ecuador between 15 January 2006 (date of discovery) and 21 February 2006 (date of nest collection). This nest was discovered halfway between Baeza and Cosanga in the Napo Province of eastern Ecuador along the Burmejo River at an elevation of about 2000 m. It was discovered in a Cyatheaceae tree fern that was about 12 m tall. The nest was placed in the middle of the top of the tree, where the fern fronds emerged from the trunk, and was well hidden among the fronds. There was at least one well-feathered nestling present at the time the nest was discovered. At least 4 adult individuals (3 males and 1 female) were bringing a food item that was most likely wasp larvae to the nest. This supports the idea that this species is a cooperative breeder. On 22 January, Greeney et al. (2007) observed one nestling that was perched on a fern frond, being fed by the adults. This nestling most likely fledged soon after this. When the nest was collected on 21 February, it had been destroyed by new fronds, but they estimated that it had an inner diameter of 10–12 cm. It was a large, somewhat frail cup of woven rootlets and long pale fibers that were anchored to the fern fronds.

The population trend of the White-capped Tanager is listed as “decreasing” by BirdLife International (2015). Parker et al. (1996) categorize Sericossypha albocristata as ‘uncommon’ and ‘patchily distributed’ relative to other Neotropical birds with a center of abundance in the middle montane zone. Generation time is estimated at 3.8 years (BirdLife International 2015). No information available on age at first breeding, life span, survivorship, parasitism, or population regulation.

The conservation status of the White-capped Tanager has been listed by IUCN Red List as “Vulnerable” (BirdLife International 2012). The threatened level was changed in 2012 from least concern to vulnerable, based on estimates that its suitable habitat is expected to decline about 35% due to deforestation (Soares-Filho et al. 2006). This is estimated to cause the population of White-capped Tanagers to decline by about 30% or more over the next three generations (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011, BirdLife International 2015), since it requires large areas of montane forest for foraging (Hilty 2011). Although its population size is unknown, its distribution size is fairly large, about 79,300 km² (BirdLife International 2015). Hilty (2011) listed this bird as being uncommon to locally fairly common, but with a declining population. Parker et al. (1996) considered this species of "medium" conservation priority relative to other Neotropical birds.

Due to this species’ need for a large foraging area of montane forest, it is significantly threatened by the deforestation and fragmentation of the high-Andean forest (Hilty 2011). Parker et al. (1996) considered S. albocristata to have a "high" degree of sensitivity to human disturbance relative to other Neotropical birds. It occurs in several protected parks throughout its range. In Colombia, the White-capped Tanager is present in Tamá, Cueva de los Guacharos, and Purace National Park. It is also present in Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador, and Tingo Maria National Park in Peru (Hilty 2011, BirdLife International 2015). BirdLife International (2015) proposes to expand the network of protected areas in order to better protect the species that occur there.

Parker et al. (1996) list the research priority for the White-capped Tanager as "medium" compared to other Neotropical birds. However, due to its recent listing as “Vulnerable” (BirdLife International 2015), the White-crowned Tanager should get more research attention in the near future. This research should be focused on sexual behavior and reproduction, diet, and habitat use. With more data in these and other areas, a more informed program for conservation of this species could be developed.