Habitat
Subtropical and tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical and tropical moist shrubland, subtropical and tropical dry forest and shrubland. From sea-level - 600 m, occasionally up to 1,700 m.
Grey-headed Tanager (Eucometis penicillata) [XC400222]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Porto Estrela, Mato Grosso, Brazil (call)
Grey-headed Tanager (Eucometis penicillata) [XC619989]
by Erick Nicol\u00e1s Pati\u00f1o Acosta from Santa Rita do Novo Destino, Goi\u00e1s, Ch\u00e1cara Jayrson, Brazil (song)
Subspecies
Recent molecular-genetic studies suggest that this genus and Trichothraupis are sister-taxa. Marked geographical variation in size and plumage. Also, genetic analyses have shown that, while two individuals from adjacent sites in Bolivia (subspecies albicollis) differed in sequence divergence values of only 0·35%, populations from Middle America differed from Bolivian ones by 4·8%, as much as or more than that between many passerine taxa now recognized as separate species. Further study is needed.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
pallida von Berlepsch, 1888 - South-eastern Mexico (on Caribbean slope from southern Veracruz, northern Oaxaca, and Yucatán Peninsula), northern and central Guatemala, Belize and northern Honduras (south to Olancho).
spodocephalus (Bonaparte, 1853) - Both slopes of Nicaragua south to Costa Rica (southern on Pacific slope to Guanacaste and on Caribbean slope to Alajuela).
stictothorax von Berlepsch, 1888 - Pacific slope of Costa Rica (southern from Puntarenas) south to Panama (Veraguas).
cristata (Du Bus de Gisignies, 1855) - Panama (Caribbean slope from Coclé east to central Panama, and Pacific slope eastern from Veraguas) east to Colombia (southern in Cauca Valley to Valle, and in Magdalena Valley to Huila. Also east of Andes in Arauca), and north-western Venezuela (east to Mérida and extreme western Portuguesa).
affinis von Berlepsch, 1888 - Northern Venezuela from Falcón east to Miranda.
penicillata (Spix, 1825) - East of Andes from Colombia (Meta and Amazonas) south through eastern Ecuador to Peru (Ucayali), and eastern across much of north-central Brazil to Atlantic (western Maranhío). Also southern Venezuela (north-western Amazonas) and the Guianas.
albicollis (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) - East of Andes from northern Bolivia (Pando, La Paz and Santa Cruz) eastern across central Brazil (Mato Grosso east to Minas Gerais and western Sío Paulo). Also north-eastern Paraguay (sight record Concepción).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet