Yellow-backed Tanager Hemithraupis flavicollis

Brazilian name: saíra-galega
Male Yellow-backed Tanager, north of Manaus, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image Brazil

The Yellow-backed Tanager is distributed round the edges of the Amazon Basin and along the north bank of the Amazon near Manaus with disjunct populations in northern Colombia, Panama and along the coast of eastern Brazil.

The birds in photos 1 to 4 belong to the sub-species H. f. obidensis taken north of Manaus while the female in photo 5 is H. f. melanoxantha was taken in Bahia.
Male Yellow-backed Tanager, north of Manaus, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image It is found in the canopy and borders of rain forest but is usually very high up and difficult to see. They normally form part of mixed canopy flocks.

The male is mostly black above with a yellow rump and lower back. The wing shows a small white speculum. Below the throat and crissum are bright yellow while elsewhere it is whitish with a mottled look. The bill is blackish above and pinkish below
Female Yellow-backed Tanager, north of Manaus, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image The female, seen here in photos 3 and 5, is dark olive above and the wings are broadly edged yellow. It is yellow below but greyer on the flanks.

It feeds mainly on insects but also eats fruit.
Male Yellow-backed Tanager, north of Manaus, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image There are recordings and a distribution map on xeno-canto while there is additional information on Avibase.
Female Yellow-backed Tanager, Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil, October 2008 - click for larger image
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