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Olive-backed Tanager

Mitrospingus oleagineus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestSmall · 41 g
Olive-backed Tanager (Mitrospingus oleagineus), photo 1
Photo: hirosho · CC BY 4.0
Olive-backed Tanager (Mitrospingus oleagineus), photo 2
Photo: Chubb, Charles; McConnell, Frederick Vavasour, d. 1914 · Public domain
Olive-backed Tanager (Mitrospingus oleagineus), photo 3
Photo: hirosho · CC BY 4.0

ID tip

The olive-backed tanager is 19 cm (7.5 in) long and weighs 35.5 to 46 g (1.25 to 1.62 oz). The nominate subspecies' forehead and face are dark gray and the throat paler gray. The head, mantle, and back are deep olive green; the breast is olive-yellow becoming brighter and more yellow on the belly. M. o. obscuripectus is very similar but the upper parts are a darker olive. The juvenile is duller and plainer than the adult and does not have the gray "mask". Voice: The olive-backed tanager's song is rendered as "zweee-eet?" or "zwee-er-eet?" that is sometimes repeatedly sounded . It makes several thin, high-pitched calls while foraging .

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Olive-backed Tanager

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is February, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Olive-backed Tanager

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 2 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Venezuela Guyana

Recorded as a rare visitor in Brazil.

About the Olive-backed Tanager

The olive-backed tanager is a species of bird in the family Mitrospingidae. It is found in Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Dusky-faced Tanager (Mitrospingus cassinii) Dusky-faced TanagerMitrospingus cassiniiThe two subspecies are "very poorly differentiated." The adults are 18 to 18.5 cm (7.1 to 7.3 in) long and weigh 32 to 39 g (1.1 to 1.4 oz).

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