Purplish-Mantled Tanager

My prior posts on the chestnut-bellied flowerpiercer, Munchique wood-wren, gold-ringed tanager and tanager finch were birds my guide was very excited about. In my post on the tanager finch I compared the number of observations, photos and recordings for those birds as  compared to some other birds we saw in the same area. 

The purplish-mantled tanager was a sighting just on the outside of those previous four birds (not as spectacular, but close). On Birds of the World it has 5,126 observations, more than four times that of the chestnut-bellied flowerpiercer (1,223) and double that of the gold-ringed tanager (2,345), but less than 12% of the red-headed barbet  (44,151) and just more than 5% of the crimson-backed tanager (99,498). 

Wikipedia has only a one paragraph entry and so Birds of the World is my primary source. It is found in wet mossy forests on the west slope of the Western Andes, some small portions of the east slope of the Western Andes, a small portion of the western slope of the Central Andes and into northwestern Ecuador. Because of its small range and threats to habitat loss, it is rated as Near Threatened by the IUCN. 

Purplish-mantled tanager range from Wikipedia.

It is a gorgeous bird. It has a bright yellow throat, the crown, side of head and back are purple to purplish-blue (the mantle is the nape of the back of the head), undertail coverts are chestnut, the lower breast and belly are buff to yellowish, black in the wings, tail and forward and mask around the eyes, and purplish-bluish-greenish and whitish on other parts, like the sides.