The cherry-throated tanager (Nemosia rourei ) is a medium-sized passerine bird. This critically endangered tanager is an endemic to handful of localities in the Atlantic Forest in Espírito Santo, Brazil, though the possibility that it occurs in adjacent parts of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro cannot be discounted. It has a striking, essentially black-white-red plumage; a photo is online in the abstract of Bauer et al. 1998.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withAfter Cabanis (1870), Bauer et al. (2000), Venturini et al. (2005):
The upper side is ashy grey, with a darker back and a lighter top of the head. A wide black mask extends from the forehead across the eyes, nearly meeting again at the nape; a small white line runs above it, and thus the forehead appears white when seen from the front. The wings and the square-tipped tail are black, with blue iridescence on the primary and secondary wing-coverts, and a striped patch formed by the light grey outer web of the tertiary remiges, with the grey scapulars sometimes dropping over the wings to form a grey shoulder patch. The uppertail coverts are likewise black, quite long, and have white tips that may have a signal function as they are sometimes prominently presented by the birds. The belly is white, and the throat has a patch of cherry red that varies in extent, in some birds reaching onto the breast. The feet and toenails are dull pink, and the iris is dark yellow.
Males and females probably look much alike, though it may be that the latter have a smaller red throat patch on average. Juveniles apparently have the throat patch dull brown.
In the field, the cherry-throated tanager is only likely to be confused with the rather common Paroaria cardinal-tanagers which have a similar color pattern when seen from a distance. At close range however, the distribution of black in N. rourei' s plumage is distinctive.
The type specimen is 14 cm (5,5 inch) long, with wings of 8,3 cm (3,25 in) and a tail of about 6 cm (2,4 in) length. Its bill is 1 cm (0,4 in) long along the ridge, 1,5 cm (0,6 in) long along the gape, and the tarsometatarsus (lower "leg") measures about 1,9 cm (0,75 in). A specimen banded in 1998 was smaller, at 12,5 cm (c. 5 in); its bill was 5,5 mm (0,22 in) high and 5 mm (0,2 in) wide and it weighed 22 g (0,78 oz).
The verified records of the species were all at altitudes of 850–1,250 m ASL in Atlantic Dense Montane Rainforest ecotone; whether the altitude range reflects restriction of habitat or genuine preference is not known. It was never recorded from open forest and usually avoids secondary forest and plantations (coffee, eucalyptus, Pinus elliottii and Pinus patula ), though if the canopy cover is dense enough it may utilize plantations and secondary rainforest as corridors to move between patches of prime habitat (Venturini et al. 2005).
The cherry-throated tanager moves through its habitat singly, in pairs (especially during breeding season) or in small flocks led by a dominant bird. If undisturbed, it utilizes regular "tracks" to visit feeding sites over the course of the day; these tracks vary according to season. It is apparently a resident bird; there is no indication even for altitudinal migrations. The species, like many tanagers, joins mixed-species feeding flocks. Those in which N. rourei was observed to participate were usually led by Sirystes and contained chestnut-crowned becards and rufous-headed tanagers as "core" species. The food of adult birds at least seems to consist entirely or nearly entirely of small invertebrates such as caterpillars, butterflies, ants, and other arthropods; Eucalyptus flowers are visited though it is not clear whether to feed on nectar or on nectar-feeding insects. Food is taken by gleaning and clambering through branches to look under leaves as typical for tanagers (Isler & Isler 1987); the birds do not hang down from branches like titmice (Bauer et al. 2000, Venturini et al. 2005).
A golden-chevroned tanager was once observed to dominate over a cherry-throated tanager individual, and a black-necked aracari was seen to attack the species for purposes unknown. There exists an observation of an apparent intraspecific threat pose, in which the head and neck are extended and held horizontally, and the wings are half-spread (Venturini et al. 2005).
Longevity is unknown, but not presumed to differ from roughly one decade common among mid-sized passerines. The single ringed bird is known to have lived for at least 6 years (Venturini et al. 2005).
No good data exists, but apparent courtship activity was observed in October (Venturini et al. 2005), and birds were observed to collect nest-building material in November (Venturini et al. 2002). What seems to be young birds close to independence but still accompanied by their parents were observed in late February (Bauer et al. 2000). Considering the usual time from egg-laying to fledging is 2–3 weeks in tropical tanagers (Isler & Isler 1987), this would seem to fit rather well with the main nesting season being in December/January, just as in most tanager species with similar ecology.
This bird has been classified as critically endangered by BirdLife International, with an estimated population of between 30 and 200 adult birds and a distribution size of just 31 km2 (12 sq mi). From field data, presently only some 14-20 individuals are known, some of them juvenile, but the continuing existence of this very rare bird for over 100 years suggests further populations await discovery. The major threat to its survival is deforestation leading to further and further habitat fragmentation and which can reduce habitat to a point where it is too small in extent for a viable population of this species. As with many Atlantic Forest endemics, it seems to have been a rare bird even before the onset of widespread habitat destruction, but why this is so remains unknown.
Though there is an ongoing effort to provide legal protection for Fazenda Pindobas IV as a Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (Private Natural Heritage Reserve), and at present, the birds there and at Caetés Forest seem safe as logging activity is stalled. Due to its somewhat predictable movements and the readiness with which this attractive species can be enticed into visual range, the cherry-throated tanager may become a significant attraction for ecotourism and/or serve as a flagship species for protection of lesser-known Atlantic Forest endemics. On the other hand, the birds are somewhat sensitive to disturbance: following a motor rally that (illegally) crossed Fazenda Pindobas IV, the birds avoided the area disturbed by the vehicles' crossing for some time (Venturini et al. 2005).
