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The black-capped tanager (Tangara heinei) or sometimes found under Stilpnia heinei, is one of the many species of Neotropical bird in the family Thraupidae. It lives in moutains of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela year-round. This bird can often be found in open landscapes, alone or in pairs, hidding under branches of trees and bushes.

Taxonomy
The black-capped Tanager is a songbird (Passeriformes) of the family Thraupidae. Tanagers are very a diverse group as there are over 300 Tanager species that account for more than 10% of all birds in the Neotropics.

The genus name: Stilpnia was proposed in 2016 instead of Tangara for T. heinei in order to match the phylogenetic relationships among Tanagers. This was based on DNA analysis done in the Tanager family. This bird is most closely related to the species Tangara argyrofenges from which it diverged during the late Pleistocene glaciation cycles.

Description
This bird measures on average 13 cm in height. Both sexes have a distinctive dark cap that got them their name, as well as dark bills and legs. The black-capped tanager is sexually dimorphic, while the male's cap is truly black, the female's cap is grey/dark green. The male’s body is aquamarine on the throat, turning into a vibrant green around the breast. The female has a light green head and an olive body. Juveniles have the same colors as the adults but in a duller, more greyish shade. Juvenile's colors are not well delimited, resulting in a patchy pattern.

Habitat and Distribution
Black-capped tanagers are found intropical moist montane forests in Northern Ecuador, Colombia, and  Venezuela. Specifically in the Andean moutains of Santa Marta, Perijà, the 3 Andean ranges and moutains in the north of Venezuela. Their natural habitats ranges between 1000m and 2700m elevation (mostly between 1500m and 2200m ). This bird occupies open landscapes such as heavily degraded former forest, edges of forest, "bushy pastures and clearings with scattered trees".

Behaviour
This tanager is found alone or in pairs, hidding under branches.

Diet
Different Tanager species can feed together in the same flock without competing for arthropods as they each feed at a specific heights, on different parts of the tree with unique positions and movements. The black-capped tanager mainly forages for insects in low shrubs and in trees, staying close to the trunk, on branches that are either bare or covered in moss .This bird also eats fruits such as whole berries and cecropia fruit.

Reproduction
Usually during wetter periods, both parent feed their young and build the nest. Nevertheless, the male does not always take part in the nest construction. The outside of the nest is mostly made of rootlets and lichen, sometimes moss. The whole is held together by spider webs and egg sacs. The inside of the nest contains mainly lichen, rootlets and grass strips. In order to give the nest its cup-like shape, the female presses her body down the nest and vibrates. The female incubates the eggs for 14 days on average and broods meanwhile the male will occasionaly feed her. The female will sink into the nest if a predator such as the green jay comes.

Vocalization
The black-capped tanager's vocalization is depicted as a nasal sound, Isler and Isler identified 3 call notes in 1987. Those include two "zheet" (one high-pitched and one of moderate pitch) and one high-pitched "tsit". Its song starts by repeating 1 note every few seconds at a moderate pitch. Then as their frequency is increasing and the song is becoming more high-pitched and louder, more notes are added; making the song more complex.

Conservation
The black-capped tanager has a very limited range where it can occasionally be seen, it is not considered rare or common.

This species' conservation is actually of least concern according to the IUCN red list. This may be because the black-capped tanager lives in disturbed forest habitat and therefore benefits in some ways from human disturbances. However, if someone approaches the nest, the female will stop incubating her eggs which might put pressure on the bird in the future.