superciliosus) are both abundant and vocal throughout
Central and South America. Males gather in courtship
areas called leks (see “Manakins,” later in this chapter)
and twitter vociferously at one another as each attempts
to entice a passing female.
Hummingbirds are attracted to red, orange, and
yellow flowers, and a single flowering tree or shrub
may be a food resource for several species. When a tree
is abundant with flowers, it is neither economical nor
practical for a single hummingbird to try to defend it
from others. Nonetheless, hummingbirds are generally
pugnacious, and it is easy to observe both intra- and
interspecific aggression among hummingbirds as
they jockey for a position at their favorite flower. This
competition is exacerbated because, though a plant
may have many flowers, very few may be nectar rich.
Some hummingbirds are highly territorial, defending
a favored feeding site. Others, including some of the
hermits, seem to circulate along a regular route visiting
several flowers; these are called trapliners.
It is often possible to observe hummingbirds well
at flowering plants that attract them. Just enjoy the
ongoing show as various species come and go. You
will likely observe lots of agonistic behavior as the
various individuals contest for access to the flowers.
Many tropical lodges and restaurants now put out
hummingbird feeders, so it is possible to sit on a
comfortable deck with some good coffee and enjoy the
various species as they come around (plates 15- 41– 43).Tanagers, and Taxonomic ComplexityTanagers are an evolutionarily diverse and
taxonomically complex group of unusually colorful,
small perching birds, many of which are the highlight
of any visit to the Neotropics. Tanager, like the word
toucan, comes from the Topi Indian language of Brazil.
Tanagers are a huge and ongoing conundrum in
avian taxonomy, often expressed tongue- in- cheek, even
by the experts, with the question “What is a tanager?”
They are part of a major, complex, recent, and rapid
evolutionary diversification of passerine (perching)
birds. Some species traditionally classified as tanagers
are no longer considered part of the group, while
other species that were never included have now been
moved into the tanager family (Thraupidae). Older
field guides to birds of the Neotropics do not reflect
this new positioning. Many bird species now assigned
to the Thraupidae are not “tanagers” in the traditional
meaning of the word. Some are cardinals (plate 15-
44), dacnises, honeycreepers, conebills, flowerpiercers,
bush-tanagers, sierra- finches, diuca- finches, warbling-
finches, inca- finches, grass- finches, seedeaters (plate
15- 45), and Darwin’s finches (the latter group confined
to the Galápagos Islands). On the other hand, the four
“tanager” species (and they are still thus named) that
migrate to breed in North America (Scarlet, Summer,
Western, and Hepatic) have recently been reclassified
and are no longer considered to be actual tanagers.Plate 15- 45. There are 30 seedeater species in the genus
Sporophila. This is a male Variable Seedeater (Sporophila
corvina), a species that ranges from Central America to
northwestern South America. Photo by John Kricher.Plate 15- 44. The Red- crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata)
is representative of the difficulties currently arising in
common name nomenclature of Neotropical bird species as
classifications change due to genetic analysis. Once placed
within the Cardinalidae, it is now classified within the family
Thraupidae, the tanagers, along with five other species
bearing the common name “cardinal.” Photo by Steve Bird.chapter 15 neotropical birds: the bustling crowd 279