Good morning, everyone.  Your fearless host is camping out at a music festival this weekend, but I managed to find time for some new birds this week before heading out.  I think I have featured a different tanager before, but who can remember.  Anyway, our bird this week is the multicolored tanager, and boy, is it.  The multicolored tanager is native to montane forests in the interior of Colombia.  Montane forests are forests located on mountain slopes.  Because air pressure and temperature decrease with altitude, these ecosystems are often heavily stratified.  Animals and plants are likely to be specially adapted to a specific niche with a narrow band of temperature, pressure, and rainfall range.  Multicolored tanagers are usually found at altitudes between 1,300 and 2,200 meters (4,265 – 7,218 ft) above sea level, although some have been observed “merely” 900 meters above sea level.  The tanager prefers the upper canopy of the rainforest, and hunts for insects in mixed species flocks.  It has also been seen eating a variety of mature fruits.  

Because the multicolored tanager lives in such specific conditions and in such a small range, it is very vulnerable habitat fragmentation.  It has lost 81% of its pre-existing habitat due to development and other human activity.  However, Colombia has been creating the excellently named Important Bird Areas throughout the multicolored tanager’s range, including some that encompass or border preexisting national parks.  

Info about its mating habits was hard to find, at this point it seems to consist of disparate anecdotes and not much else.  Based on these data, it appears to breed between November and August, which is typical for tropical, non-migratory birds.  

The Latin name of the species, nitidissima, means “very bright,” although I have also seen it translated as “most brilliant,” which sounds cooler for sure.  

Have a good weekend, everyone.  I hope you have fun posting and please take a break if you feel the need.  Also, please enjoy taking a shower, I won’t be able to do that for a few days.  It’s all part of the festival experience, I’m sure.  

Links: https://tinyurl.com/4bcadcnx, https://tinyurl.com/yvzsc5zs, https://tinyurl.com/jdevfmdv, https://tinyurl.com/nkm73mes, https://tinyurl.com/3btn7rxz