Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
Cone-billed Tanager
, a small grey finch known only from the type-specimen collected in 1938, in dry forest habitat at Juruena, Central Brazil. [3, 4]
In October 2004, Brazilian ornithologist Dante Buzzetti was visiting Emas National Park to follow up a possible sighting of the species in 2003 by bird guide Br??¡ulio A Carlos. Buzzetti heard a call at dawn he did not recognize. Playing back the calls attracted a medium brown bird he was unable to identify. A few days later, he heard a melodious song, and again using playback, brought in a male Cone-billed Tanager.
Cone-billed Tanager, Brazil ???? Birdlife International
Later that day, Buzzetti confirmed the brown bird he had earlier seen was a female Cone-billed Tanager; the first ever to be recorded. The following month, Buzzetti and Carlos filmed presumably the same pair of birds. Unlike published illustrations (all based on the single museum specimen), in life the bill of Cone-billed Tanager was strikingly pale, rather than black.
Since 2004, Cone-billed Tanagers have been found again at Emas National Park. In late 2005, Andre De Luca, a volunteer ornithologist for SAVE Brasil (BirdLife in Brazil), visited the park and found at least three birds in gallery forest. He commented, ??€œTo get photos of the tanager was fantastic because it??€™s still hard for me to believe that I??€™ve actually seen this enigmatic species!??€?? |
