White-throated Shrike-Tanager

The white-throated shrike-tanager is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long and weighs 30 to 45 g (1.1 to 1.6 oz). It has a shrike-like "toothed" bill with a hooked end. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies L. l. leucothorax have rich yellow upperparts. Their head, nape, wings, and tail are black, with white on the lesser wing coverts. Their chin is black, their throat white, their breast buff-tinged white, their belly and undertail coverts bright yellow, their thighs black, and their underwing coverts white. Adult females have a grayish brown head with a dusky tinge on the ear coverts. Their upperparts are reddish brown. Their wings and tail are dusky with wide brown feather edges. Their throat and upper breast are buffy brown with a gray tinge, their lower breast is olive, and their belly golden yellow. Their sides, flanks, and undertail coverts are pale cinnamon. The other subspecies of the white-throated shrike-tanager differ from the nominate and each other thus:

L. l. melanopygius: male has black lower back, lower belly, and undertail coverts; female has paler brownish gray throat than nominate L. l. ictus: male like melanopygius with wide yellow tips on the rump feathers; female's throat is intermediate between nominate and melanopygius L. l. …

The subspecies of the white-throated shrike-tanager are found thus:

L. l. leucothorax: from Colón and Olancho departments in eastern Honduras south on the Caribbean slope through Nicaragua into Costa Rica to most of the length of Limón Province L. l. reversus: Las Agujas in western Costa Rica's northwestern Puntarenas Province L. l. melanopygius: Pacific slope from southern lip of the Gulf of Nicoya in Puntarenas Province south into western Panama's Chiriquí Province and on both Pacific and Caribbean slopes in Veraguas Province and the Caribbean slope in western Coclé Province L. l. ictus: area of Almirante Bay in northwestern Panama's Bocas del Toro Province The white-throated shrike-tanager inhabits the interior of evergreen forest in the lowlands and foothills of the tropical and lower subtropical zones. Sources differ on its elevational limit. One states it is 750 m (2,500 ft) and a more recent one says 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Fagan's field guide it reaches 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Honduras and Garrigues' guide lists it as 900 m (3,000 ft) in Costa Rica.

The white-throated shrike-tanager feeds primarily on insects and occasionally includes fruit in its diet. Pairs and small family groups almost always travel as members of a mixed-species feeding flock; the flock forages from the forest's mid-level to its canopy but most often in the subcanopy. The species often acts as a flock sentinel. It captures prey stirred up by the flock with a fast acrobatic chase.