Buff-throated Saltator

The buff-throated saltator is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long. Males weigh an average of about 46 g (1.6 oz) and females about 49 g (1.7 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies S. m. maximus have a mostly gray head with a greenish gray crown and a short white supercilium. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive-green. Their chin and upper throat are white and their lower throat buffy with a black line on each side of the full length. Their breast, belly, and flanks are gray and their lower belly and undertail coverts buffy. The other subspecies of the buff-throated saltator differ from the nominate and each other thus:

S. m. gigantodes: grayish crown, smaller buff throat patch, and wider black on sides of throat S. m. magnoides: sooty blackish forecrown and crown, dusky grayish nape, and bright yellowish olive-green upperparts; black band around sides and bottom of throat S. m. intermedius: black band like magnoides; buff tinge on underparts S. m. iungens: similar to nominate All subspecies have a brown iris, a thick blackish or black bill, and blackish or grayish brown legs and feet.

The buff-throated saltator has a disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:

S. m. gigantodes: Gulf slope of Mexico from central Veracruz south to Tabasco and northern Oaxaca S. m. magnoides: from Chiapas and Quintana Roo in southern Mexico south on Caribbean slope through northern and central Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and on the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica (except far northwest and far southwest) into northwestern Panama S. m. intermedius: from southwestern Costa Rica to the Canal Zone in Panama S. m. iungens: from eastern Panama into the lowlands of northwestern Colombia to the lower Cauca River valley S. m. maximus: Serranía del Perijá on the Colombia-Venezuela border; from eastern Colombia northeast on both slopes of the Venezuelan Andes to the Venezuelan Coastal Range from Yaracuy to Miranda; from eastern Colombia east across southern Venezuela and the Guianas; from Chocó Department in northwestern Colombia south on the western Andean slope through Ecuador just into northwestern Peru's Tumbes Department; from eastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northern Bolivia; from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia east across Brazil north of a line from west-central Mato Grosso do Sul northeast to the Atlantic in Maranhão; and southeastern Brazil from Alagoas south to northern São Paulo state Though some sources incl …

The buff-throated saltator feeds primarily on plant material like fruit, flowers, and nectar, and also includes insects in its diet. In Chiapas, Mexico, it has been observed feeding on the fruits of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae), Trophis racemosa (Moraceae), and gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba). It typically forages at the forest edge, moving only a short distance into the forest to feed. It is usually seen in pairs and often in mixed-species feeding flocks.