Varied solitaire
The varied solitaire is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Turdidae, the thrushes. It is found in Colombia and Panama.
Taxonomy and systematics
The varied solitaire was originally described in 1912 with its current binomial Myadestes coloratus and English name. During the middle of the twentieth century several authors treated what are now the varied solitaire, the black-faced solitaire, and Andean solitaire as conspecific. They are not well differentiated and form a superspecies.
The varied solitaire is monotypic.
Description
The varied solitaire is long and weighs. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a smudgy blackish forehead, face, and chin on an otherwise pale slate-gray head and neck. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are warm brown. Their wings have warm brown upperwing coverts and blackish primary coverts and flight feathers. Their tail is blackish with paler outer feathers and pale gray feather tips. Their underparts are pale slate-gray. They have a yellow bill and yellow legs and feet. Juveniles have olive-brown upperparts with whitish and buffy streaks and spots, a black tail, and brownish underparts with white spots.
Distribution and habitat
The varied solitaire has a disjunct distribution. It is found in eastern Panama in the Serranía de Majé, on Cerro Tacarcuna, and on Cerro Pirre. It also is found on Alto de Nique and Cerro Quía on the Panama-Colombia border. It inhabits montane evergreen forest and cloudforest in the upper tropical and subtropical zones. One source states its overall elevation range as. Another places it mostly from and lower at on the summit of Cerro Quía in Panama. A third places it at in Colombia.
Behavior
Movement
The varied solitaire is primarily a sedentary year-round resident though some elevational movements are suspected.
Feeding
The varied solitaire's diet and foraging behavior have not been studied. It is known to feed on fruit.
Breeding
The varied solitaire's breeding season includes at least April to June. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.
Vocalization
The varied solitaire's song is "a leisurely series of drawn-out single notes or flute-like phrases with intervening pauses of 3–6 seconds, sometimes with a few less musical notes interspersed".
Status
The IUCN originally in 1988 assessed the varied solitaire as being of Least Concern but since 2021 as Near Threatened. It has a small range and its estimated population of between 20,000 and 50,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "Due to its high dependence on cloud forests, the species is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat...the impact of habitat loss on the population size is thought to be low." It is considered local and rare in Colombia. In Panama it occurs in several protected areas and is numerous in some of them.