About Loriotus cristatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
The flame-crested tanager has the scientific name Loriotus cristatus (Linnaeus, 1766). This species reaches a length of about 15 cm (6 in) and weighs around 20 g (0.7 oz). Males have a black head, a small orangeish-red bib, and a moderate-sized orangish crest. Their upper bodies are slatey-black with a golden-buff rump, and a large white patch appears on their upper wing-coverts. Their underparts are dark brownish-black. Females resemble the white-winged shrike-tanager (Lanio versicolor) in appearance, but have browner upperparts and buff-ochre rather than yellowish-ochre underparts. This species is native to lowland forest in the northern half of South America, and has two separate disjunct populations. The larger population covers most of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, southern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and eastern Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The separate smaller population, which corresponds to the subspecies L. c. brunneus, occupies a coastal strip of Brazil stretching from Recife to Curitiba.
