Western spindalis


The western spindalis is a songbird species. It was formerly considered conspecific with the other three species of spindalis, with the common name stripe-headed tanager.
The spindalises were traditionally considered aberrant tanagers of the family Thraupidae, but like the equally enigmatic bananaquit, they are formally treated as incertae sedis among the nine-primaried oscines until the recognition of the family spindalidae.
The male is brightly colored with a black and white horizontally striped head and contrasting burnt orange throat, breast and nape. The remainder of the belly is light grey. There are two color variations: green-backed and black-backed. The female has similar markings on the head, but washed out to a medium grey. She is olive-grey above and greyish-brown below, with a slight orange wash on the breast, rump, and shoulders. They are long and weigh.
The species is found in southeastern Florida and the western Caribbean. It is a rare visitor of extreme southern Florida, where the subspecies S. z. zena successfully bred in 2009.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, and heavily degraded former forest. The subspecies zena is found in pine forest.
It is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.

Subspecies