His Furiously Fiery Red Vest Is Only Accentuated By Strategically Placed, Artfully Added, Vivid White Eye-liner – Meet The Red-breasted Chat!
Surprisingly easy to miss, despite his vivid red coat and beautifully contrasting black and white head pattern.
The red-breasted chat (Granatellus venustus), is a species of bird in the Cardinalidae family. The adult male of this species has a mostly bluish-gray color. Most of his face has a broad white supercilium, while there is a black band across the chest. His chin, throat, sides, and flanks are white. His breast, belly, and vent area are vermilion.
The female of this species has upperparts that are slate gray, with her face covered in shades of buff and gray.
Her breast and belly, meanwhile, are buff, with the vent area being salmon pink.
Endemic to western Mexico, the red-breasted chat is also found in Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
These birds like to inhabit thorn forested areas and scrubby woodland, but can also be found in the understory of secondary forest and other heavy growth. It has also been found in evergreen swamp forest inland of mangrove swamps and along rivers.
Red-breasted chats can be found in loose pairs foraging in mid-level areas to just below the canopy. Looking for insects and other arthropods.
Little is known about this species reproduction other than it breeds during the wet season, from May through to September. They build a nest made from Spanish moss and other fibers lined with fine material. Up to four eggs can be laid with the female left to incubate the eggs, through both sexes will provide for the hatchlings. and provide for the hatchlings.
This species has a large range, though the global population size has not been quantified, they are not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List.
