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Olive-grey saltator

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Species of bird

Olive-grey saltator
In Caracas, Venezuela
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Saltator
Species: S. olivascens
Binomial name
Saltator olivascens
Cabanis, 1849
Range in green

The olive-grey saltator (Saltator olivascens), also known as the Caribbean grey saltator, is a quiet, grey-colored passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae, native to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, far northern Brazil, and Trinidad. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greyish saltator (Saltator coerulescens), but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021. The olive-grey saltator includes the subspecies brewsteri and plumbeus.

Taxonomy

Previously grouped with the bluish-grey Saltator (Saltator coerulescens) and cinnamon-bellied saltator (Saltator grandis) into one species, the greyish saltator, the olive-grey saltator (Saltator olivascens) was split in 2021 by the IOC on the basis of vocal and genetic differences, as well as the fact that the three occupy different ranges.

This species includes three subspecies, ssp. olivascens, plumbeus, and brewsteri.

Description

The olive-grey saltator has a thick, black bill that is slightly hooked at the end, with white supercilliaries (giving it a distinct white "eyebrow"), and a thin white crescent under its eye. Distinct black malar stripes frame either side of a white throat. Its underside is a light grey with some buffy coloration towards its flanks and undertail coverts. Despite its name, it is only slightly olive-colored, with a primarily dark grey back, which distinguishes it from the closely related and similar-looking buff-throated saltator (Saltator maximus) and streaked saltator (Saltator striatipectus) which have clearly olive (and not grey) backs. Both sexes look similar, while juveniles are washed olive and yellow rather than grey, particularly on their undersides.

Distribution

The species spans most of northern South America, ranging from northeastern Colombia through Venezuela and the Guianas, into extreme northern Brazil, and can also be found in Trinidad. The subspecies each occupy different ranges within this, with the olivascens subspecies found in the Tepuis of southern Venezuela, to the Guianas, Suriname, and adjacent northern Brazil, the plumbeus subspecies along the Caribbean coast of northern Colombia (from Río Sinú to Magdalena Valley), and the brewsteri subspecies in tropical northeast Colombia to Venezuela, and on the island of Trinidad. The olive-grey saltator is a resident species, and does not migrate.

Habitat

These birds are frequently found in a variety of edge habitats including forest edges, shrublands, inland wetlands, and second growth forests. They also do quite well in human-modified habitats, such as orchards, gardens, cleared areas, and near homes. They have also been observed in parks and botanical gardens in an urban metropolitan area in northern Colombia, demonstrating their ability to succeed in certain anthropogenic environments.

Behaviour

Behaviour

Olive-grey saltators have a low-energy lifestyle, spending little time on high-energy activities and instead devoting most of their time to resting, singing or preening. They are diurnal birds, and can often be found singing from the canopy, though they forage at all levels.

Diet

An olive-grey bird perched on a branch with a berry in its beak.
An olive-grey saltator in Lorica, Córdoba, Colombia, foraging for berries.

Olive-grey saltators are frugivorous birds, eating plant matter of all kinds. Fruits and leaves make up about 64% of their diet, but they have been observed eating flower buds, tendrils, seed pods, and flowers. They feed their chicks high-protein insects, and will occasionally consume them as adults in the dry season, when vegetation is scarcer.

They have a preference for fruits and more tender vegetation (which contain more protein and nutrients), particularly morning glory flowers, but will consume mature leaves when other food is not readily available. It was found that these birds spend little time foraging, and instead eat as much as they can and process it quickly, which allows them to get the necessary nutrients from foods that are high in fiber and otherwise difficult to digest.

Reproduction

They first reproduce at 1 year and live about 3.8 years, the maximum age being 9 years. Olive-grey saltators nest in dense vegetation, building a bulky, open-cup nest of dead plant material (and at times, man-made materials like paper), with finer material such as grasses and thin stems forming the lining. Not much is known about the nesting details of this species, but they appear to lay a clutch of 2-3 light-blue/turquoise eggs with black scrawls, which are smooth-shelled and oval-shaped.

Vocalizations

Described as having "a 'stuttering song' with rather harsh-sounding downslurred notes", they alternate high and low pitched notes to form a short but sweet melody that can be heard throughout the year. Both males and females sing, at times duetting in "a fast series of repeated rising whit notes, a series of overslurred low-pitched chup notes or loosely repeated high-pitched tseet notes." Their call is a short, high pitched "tseet!" which can be heard during song as well.

Conservation status

Listed as least concern by the IUCN, olive-grey saltators are found throughout their range, common even in areas modified by humans.

External links

Saltátor Grisáceo, Caribbean Grey Saltator (Saltator olivascens) - Adult olive-grey saltator with juvenile (which has yellow-washed plumage)

Macaulay Library ML77971 - Olive-gray Saltator - Adult male song

Saltator Maximus Eggs - eggs of a close relative to the olive-grey saltator that are very similar in appearance

Olive-gray Saltator - Saltator olivascens - Media Search - photo gallery on eBird

Photos of Olive-gray Saltator (Saltator olivascens) - iNaturalist observations of the olive-grey saltator

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2017). "Saltator olivascens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  3. ^ Greeney, Harold F.; Boesman, Peter F. D. (2021). "Olive-gray Saltator (Saltator olivascens), version 1.0". Birds of the World. doi:10.2173/bow.grasal4.01. ISSN 2771-3105. S2CID 242513748.
  4. ^ "Olive-gray Saltator - eBird". ebird.org. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  5. Kenefick, Martyn; Restall, Robin; Hayes, Floyd (2008). Field Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Helm. ISBN 9780300135572.
  6. ^ "Saltator olivascens (Olive-grey Saltator) - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  7. ^ IUCN (2020-10-07). Saltator olivascens: BirdLife International: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T103812685A167843096 (Report). International Union for Conservation of Nature. doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-3.rlts.t103812685a167843096.en.
  8. Chatellenaz, Mario L. (2008). "Diet of the Grayish Saltator (Saltator coerulescens) in Northeastern Argentina" (PDF). Ornitologia Neotropical. 19: 617–625.
  9. Cediel, Fernando; Lozano-Flórez, Andrés Julián (2020). "Aves urbanas en zonas verdes del área metropolitana de Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia: Urban birds in green zones of the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia". Ornitología Colombiana (in Spanish) (18): 1–20. ISSN 1794-0915.
  10. ^ Rodríguez-Ferraro, Adriana; García-Amado, M. Alexandra; Bosque, Carlos (2007-11-01). "Diet, Food Preferences, and Digestive Efficiency of the Grayish Saltator, a Partly Folivorous Passerine". The Condor. 109 (4): 824–840. doi:10.1093/condor/109.4.824. ISSN 0010-5422.
  11. Bird, Jeremy P.; Martin, Robert; Akçakaya, H. Reşit; Gilroy, James; Burfield, Ian J.; Garnett, Stephen T.; Symes, Andy; Taylor, Joseph; Şekercioğlu, Çağan H.; Butchart, Stuart H. M. (2020-05-06). "Generation lengths of the world's birds and their implications for extinction risk". Conservation Biology. 34 (5): 1252–1261. doi:10.1111/cobi.13486. ISSN 0888-8892. PMID 32058610. S2CID 211113247.
  12. Bosque, Carlos; Pacheco, M. Andreina; Siegel, Rodney B. (January 1999). "Maintenance Energy Costs of Two Partially Folivorous Tropical Passerines". The Auk. 116 (1): 246–252. doi:10.2307/4089474. ISSN 0004-8038. JSTOR 4089474.
  13. Greeney, Harold Francis; Angulo P., Fernando; Dobbs, Robert C.; Crespo, S.; Miller, Eliot T.; Caceres, D.; Gelis, Rudolphe A.; Angulo, B.; Salagaje M., Luis A. (2020-03-22). "Notes on the Breeding Biology of the Tumbesian Avifauna in Southwest Ecuador and Northwest Peru". Revista Ecuatoriana de Ornitología (6): 1–54. doi:10.18272/reo.vi6.1146. ISSN 2697-3685. S2CID 226036459.
  14. Boesman, Peter F. D. (2016-07-29). "395. Notes on the vocalizations of Greyish Saltator (Saltator coerulescens)". Ornithological Notes. doi:10.2173/bow-on.100395.
Taxon identifiers
Saltator olivascens


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