A tiny bird that is truly a rainbow of colors, covered in brilliant shades of copper, blue, green, white, yellow and red!
Meet the Chestnut-backed Tanager
The chestnut-backed tanager (Stilpnia precious) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. The male of this species has a bright reddish crown that fades to a more coppery hue along its back. Its rump is yellowish, its tail, wings and back are black with blue trim. Most of its chest and belly are blue-green with yellow in the center of the belly and the underside of the tail covers dark beige.
Its wing covers are white, with black stripes on its head that continue around its eyes.
The female is more or less a duller version of the male with a greener upperpart and underparts with washed tan undertail coverts.
Photo courtesy of Joao Quental / CC BY 2.0
These birds are endemic and are found in southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, eastern Paraguay and Uruguay.
Chestnut-backed tanagers prefer to live in and around forests and on their edges up to about 1,000 m altitude.
Chestnut-backed tanagers eat a wide variety of fruits, including domesticated varieties, while taking time to hunt for insects in the canopy. They also readily join mixed-species flocks while foraging.
Little is known about the reproductive process of this species, apart from a nesting site in Rio Grande do Sul, about 10 m high, between the thick leaves of an araucaria tree. There was no other information.
The chestnut-backed tanager is not in any current danger and is abundant in the areas where it resides. Additional studies show that this animal is non-invasive, which simply means that it will not invade areas other than its own region.
Watch this bird right here in the video below:
