Silver-beaked Tanager

The silver-beaked tanager is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 21 to 37.5 g (0.74 to 1.3 oz). It has a heavy bill with a wide base to the mandible. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies R. c. carbo have a deep carmine head, neck, and throat; they have a plush appearance. Their upperparts including the upperwing and uppertail coverts are carmine-black. Their flight feathers and tail are dusky black. Their breast is rich deep crimson and their belly and undertail coverts black with a crimson tinge. Adult females have a rich dark rusty-red head and upper back and a somewhat redder lower back and rump. Their wings are dusky with rufescent brown edges on the coverts and tertials. Their tail is dusky. Their underparts are rich reddish brown to warm brown with a grayish tinge on the breast. Immature birds resemble adult females. The other subspecies of the silver-beaked tanager differ from the nominate and each other thus:

R. c. unicolor: male - brighter red head, more uniform upperparts, back and belly only slightly darker than breast R. c. capitalis: male - deep red head, black upperparts, deep crimson chin, throat, and breast; female - redder rump, uppertail coverts, and lower underparts R. c. magnirostris: larger and heavier bill; male - more white on mandible; female - more uniformly reddish underparts R. c. …

The silver-beaked tanager is found across most of northern and central South America east of the Andes. The subspecies are found thus:

R. c. unicolor: eastern base of Colombia's Eastern Andes in Casanare and Meta departments R. c. capitalis: northeastern Venezuelan states of Anzoátegui, Sucre, Monagas, and Delta Amacuro R. c. magnirostris: Trinidad; Guanoco area in Venzuela's Sucre R. c. carbo: from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into northern Peru to Ucayali Department; from Colombia and Peru east through Venezuela's Amazonas and Bolívar states, the Guianas, and western, northern, and central Brazil north of Mato Grosso R. c. venezuelensis: eastern base of the Andes from Arauca and Boyacá departments in eastern Colombia into western Venezuela to a line roughly from Miranda southwest to Apure states R. c. connectens: southeastern Peru and adjacent northwestern Bolivia R. c. atrosericeus: northern and eastern Bolivia R. c. centralis: Brazil from a line roughly from central Mato Grosso east to Bahia south to Santa Catarina (except coastally) and into northeastern Paraguay The species has also appeared as a vagrant in Argentina. The silver-beaked tanager inhabits a variety of semi-open landscapes including the edges and clearings of forest, secondary forest, open woodlands, areas around human habitations, and shrubby areas along watercourses. …

The silver-beaked tanager feeds mostly on arthropods and fruit and occasionally eats flowers and nectar. Of the fruits it favors Melastomaceae berries. Where its diet has been studied, it feeds on approximately equal amounts of animal and plant foods. It forages "in groups that are noisy, engaging and omnipresent"; the groups may number 10 or more individuals. It forages from the ground mostly to about 12 m (40 ft) up but will feed in fruiting trees as high as 25 m (80 ft). In a study in Trinidad, 77% of its insect prey was taken from foliage, 13% from grass and weeds, 7% in mid-air, and the rest on other substrates like branches.