The grey-crowned tanager or grey-crowned palm-tanager (Phaenicophilus poliocephalus) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Phaenicophilidae, the Hispaniolan tanagers. It is endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-crowned tanager shares its genus with the black-crowned tanager (P. palmarum). They hybridize and have at times been considered conspecific. The genus was long included in family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers, but it was moved in 2017.

The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign three subspecies to the grey-crowned tanager, the nominate P. p. poliocephalus, P. p. coryi, and P. p. tetraopes. The Clements taxonomy includes tetraopes within the nominate. This article follows the three-subspecies model.

Description

The grey-crowned tanager is about  long and weighs about . The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has a deep gray crown and a black "mask" with white spots in front of, above, and below the eye. Its upperparts are yellow-green. Its throat is bright white and the rest of its underparts the same dark gray as the crown. Subspecies P. p. coryi is larger than the nominate and paler overall with a white streak down the center of the breast and belly. P. p. tetraopes is slightly paler than the nominate both top and bottom.

Distribution and habitat

The grey-crowned tanager's nominate subspecies is found on the Tiburon Peninsula of southwestern Haiti and the small island of Grande Cayemite off its northern shore. In the Dominican Republic, it is rarely found in the north and south slopes of the Sierra de Baoruco, as well as on the southern part of Loma de Toro and Hoyo de Pelempito. The subspecies P. p. coryi is found only on Île-à-Vache off the Tiburon Peninsula's south coast. P. p. tetraopes is found only on Gonâve Island in the Gulf of Gonâve north of the peninsula. The species inhabits every available forest type from dry to wet and open to dense. It also occurs tree plantations and in rural and urban gardens and parks. It is most easily viewed on the Massif de la Hotte towards the western end of the Tiburon Peninsula. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Movement

The grey-crowned tanager is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The grey-crowned tanager forages in pairs or family groups from the forest mid-level to the canopy, and also sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks. Its major dietary component is small arthropods with a lesser contribution from fruit. It forages for arthropods mostly by gleaning from foliage, both living and dead.

Breeding

The grey-crowned tanager's breeding season is from May to July. It builds a cup nest of twigs up to about  above ground. The clutch size is two to four eggs. After young fledge, the family stays together for several months. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

As of late 2022 xeno-canto had no recordings of grey-crowned tanager vocalizations and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had very few. It has "an extended melodic song" and a "peee-u" call.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the grey-crowned tanager as Near Threatened. It has a limited range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. Deforestation in the Dominican Republic and especially Haiti has been severe and is continuing. However, the tanager is common in areas of remaining habitat. "The small amount of forest left on Hispaniola is under constant pressure [but the species'] generalist habits likely buffer it to some extent from the effects of deforestation".

References

Phaenicophilus
Birds described in 1851
Endemic birds of Hispaniola
Endemic birds of the Caribbean
Birds of Haiti
Birds of the Dominican Republic
tanager, grey-crowned
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot