Grass Green Tanager – A Distinctive Small Passerine Bird

The striking Grass Green Tanager (Chlorornis riefferii) is a small passerine bird. This bird belongs to the tanager family. This is a beautifully distinctive and well-named bird and the only member of the genus Chloronis. The Grass Green bird is 20 cm in length and weighs 53g This species lives in the subtropics and is found in temperate forests in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru at elevations of 1500–3350 m.

The grass green tanager bird is often seen in mixed-species flocks and usually travels in pairs or in groups of 3–6 individuals. Grass Green Tanager forages mostly on the upper half of short trees and eats fruits and insects. It is recognized as perch almost horizontally. The nest is made of mosses and ferns, and its eggs are gray with light purple-grey dots. The birds mash larger or tough-skinned fruits with their bills to get at the pulp inside, discarding the skin.

The generic name derives from the Greek words khloros, which means green, and ornis, which means bird. Almost the entire bird is clad in bright green. It is relieved only by the chestnut face mask and ventral region. While both the chunky bill and the legs and feet are deep red, it is one of the most impressive tanagers in the cloud forest. The grass green tanager is not globally threatened. It is fairly common throughout most of the range. 

Also Read: The Orange-breasted Bunting / The fire-tailed myzornis