Order
Passeriformes
Family
Turdidae
Genus
Catharus
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush Catharus fuscater

Matthew R. Halley
Version: 1.0 — Published August 22, 2014

Demography and Populations

Introduction

Costa Rica.—Populations scattered along the length of the Talamanca range are referrable to hellmayri. Common resident on the Carribean slope (800–2300m) and locally at higher elevations on the Pacific slope (e.g., Cordillera de Tilarán; Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Panama.—Populations in W. Panama (e.g., Chiriqui) fit discriptions of hellmayri. Cerro Pirre in the Panamanian Darién harbors the type population of mirabilis. Populations in Veraguas need further study (e.g., Colovévora, Cordillera de Chucú; Wetmore et al. 1984). Population on Cerro Tacarcuna and Cerro Malí similar in plumage to nominate fuscater (Wetmore et al. 1984, but see Phillips 1991). Populations on Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe (Province of Panamá, near the canal zone) require further study (Wetmore et al. 1984). Bangs (1902) reported on 22 specimens taken between 1200–2300m near Boquete and Volcán Barú.

Colombia.—Specimens from the eastern base of Cerro Tacarcuna (on the Colombian side of the Darién Gap) are similar in appearance to those on the Panamanian side of the mountain and referred to nominate fuscater. Populations in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are referrable to sanctaemartae; it occurs from 1200–2100 m, but is more frequent between 1500–1800 m (Todd and Carriker 1922), and occasionally is heard in the forest east of Pueblo Viejo as low as 600 m. Birds from Sierra de Perijá resemble nominate fuscater. Eastern Andean populations seem to be disjunct from Tachirá south past Bogotá (Beltrán and Kattan 2001). In the Central Andes, populations are known in Ucumarí Regional Park (Risaralda Dept., 2000–2600 m) and in the mountains east of Manizales (Beltrán and Kattan 2001). Wetmore (1955) described subspecies opertaneus from Antioquia, in the western Cordillera, but little is known about this population.

Venezuela.—Birds referrable to nominate fuscater are found in the Andes of southern Tachirá, north through Merida, northwestern Barinas, Trujillo, and southeastern Lara (Hilty 2003). Elevational range 1500–2900 m.

Ecuador.—Found on both slopes of the Andes, although more abundantly on the western slope (Rasmussen et al. 1996). Rahbek (1993) reported populations in Podocarpus National Park (4º17' S, 78º56' W) and Celica II (4º01' S, 79º52' W).

Peru.—Found in Piura and northern Cajamarca south to the Rio Zana Valley (caniceps). In Tambillo, Peru, it occurs between 1770–2290m (Taczanowski 1884). Also occurs in southern Peru (Rumicruz, Junín, Puno) to the Bolivian border (mentalis).

Bolivia.—Found in western Bolivia east to Carrasco and Amboro National Parks (mentalis).

Recommended Citation

Halley, M. R. (2014). Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus fuscater), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.sbnthr1.01