Golden-chested tanager

Golden-chested tanager
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Bangsia
Species:	B. rothschildi
Binomial name
Bangsia rothschildi (Berlepsch, 1897)

The golden-chested tanager (Bangsia rothschildi) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Etymology

Both parts of the Latin binomial honor early ornithologists. Bangsia is named for Outram Bangs, a United States zoologist and collector; the specific epithet rothschildi honors Lionel Walter 2nd Baron Rothschild of Trig who was an English ornithologist, entomologist, collector, and publisher.

Distribution

Bangsia rothschildi is endemic to the northwestern South American countries of Colombia and Ecuador.

Habitat

The Golden-chested Tanager can be found in a narrow elevational band of humid and heavily forested tropical lowland evergreen forests, pre-montane forests, forest borders and edges, and pluvial foothill forests in the Lower Tropical Zone in Ecuador and Colombia. Typically the species is seen in the mid-levels and subcanopy forest strata. Additional habitats used by this species include Montane Evergreen Forest.

Appearance

The Golden-chested Tanager is an attractive glossy dark navy-blue bird, to black tinged blue-violet, featuring bright golden-yellow patches on the chest, the lower-belly to the crissum, and on the underwing coverts which contrasts with the blackish flight-feathers. It is a chunky medium-sized bird with a large head, a robust short mandible, and a relatively short tail.