Bulletin 413 - Colombia 2022 #10 - Tanagers - Part 1

I was planning to go to Peru in 2022 but there were riots and road closures in the areas we were planning to go. So at the last minute I went back to Colombia and saw some other places. 

Unfortunately, there was a lot of overlap, so I did not get a lot of new birds on the trip. However, many areas now have set up feeding stations and several were built for photography. I used the same guide Pablo Florez and I had my daughter with me on the trip this year.

However on the bright side, the setups for photography and the number of places that had feeders allowed me to get many improved photos of birds I had mediocre photos previously.

The tanager family (thraupidae) is another huge New World family of birds with 386 species currently. The range from the plain seedeaters to the gaudy Tangara genus of beautiful birds.

The 5" Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola) is a favorite of mine. On my first trip to the tropics in 1994 on a VENT tour to Costa Rica, it was the first bird I saw when we stopped the first morning. As it is on the cover of the guide book to Costa Rica I had been studying before the trip, I knew what it was. I have seen it many times since, but these are the best photos.

Bay-headed Tanager

Bay-headed Tanager

His cousin is the 5" Beryl-spangled Tanager (Tangara nigroviridis). No ID description is needed.

Beryl-spangled Tanager

The 5.3" male Paramo Seedeater (Catamenia homochroa) is a small dark gray bird with a rufous undertail and a light bill.

Paramo Seedeater - male

His cousin is the 5.3" male Plain-colored Seedeater (Catamenia inornata). It is a much lighter gray color. The females of both these species are brown.

Plain-colored Seedeater - male

The mountain tanagers are larger than the tangara tanagers and of course are restricted to the higher elevations. We saw 3 on the trip.

The 7" Lachrymose Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus lacrymosus) is blue on the black, yellow on the underside with a black face and a tiny yellow tear under his eye.

Lachrymose Mountain Tanager

His cousin is the 7" Blue-winged Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus). He has a black face and back, mostly blue wings and tail and yellow below and a yellow nape.

Blue-winged Mountain Tanager

And the last one is the 7" Black-chinned Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus notabilis). He is similar to the one above, but his back is green and his underside is orange.

Black-chinned Mountain Tanager

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 118 of the 386 species of tanagers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 394 - Colombia 2021 #11 - Tanagers Pt 1

 I finally made it back to Colombia for my second visit and again used the guide services of Pablo Florez. I went with my friend Martin Jackson. We visited Inirida on the Orinoco, Santa Marta of course, Guajira Peninsula on the Caribbean coast, and a couple of National Parks around Bogota.

Tanagers are a large New World family of mostly colorful birds. They include seedeaters, conebills, tanagers, flowerpiercers etc. Any birding trip to the tropics will find a large number of them.

The 5" Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola) is a fairly common bird from Costa Rica south into northern Amazonia. They usually have an aqua underside, but the Santa Marta range toddi subspecies is green. This is a likely future split.

Bay-headed Tanager
toddi ssp in Santa Marta range

The 7" Santa Marta Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus melanogenys) is a Santa Marta endemic and an easy ID with the blue back, yellow underside and black face.

Santa Marta Mountain Tanager

But the most exciting tanager we found in Santa Marta was the skulking 5.5" Plushcap (Catamblyrhynchus diadema). This is not an endemic to Santa Marta - but the only pair we saw and they flew across the trail and landed at eye level 8 feet away. The ID is easy if you are fortunate to see this bird.

Plushcap

Saltators are a group of tanagers that used to be in the cardinal family. The 8" Blue-grey Saltator (Saltator coerulescens) is a mostly grey bird with a white eye stripe.

Blue-grey Saltator

The 8" Olivaceous Saltator (Saltator olivascens) is similar and was split form the above species - but is a lighter grey and lacks the stripe over the eye.

Olivaceous Saltator

The 8" Orinocan Saltator (Saltator orenocensis) is dark above with a black face and rusty flanks and bright white stripe over the eye.

Orinocan Saltator

The 6" male Plumbeous Sierra Finch (Phrygilus unicolor) is a cute little bird of the paramo. The female is brown and streaky like a sparrow.

Plumbeous Sierra Finch - male

The 4.5" Grey Pileated Finch (Coryphospingus pileatus) is a rather dull greyish bird with  a pink bill.

Grey Pileated Finch

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 114 of the 385 species of tanagers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 237 - Best of 10 years - Tanagers

The tanager family (thraupidae) is a large New World family of 368 species. Many of them are brightly colored and most are in the tropics. The famous Darwin's 'finches' of the Galapagos are also tanagers. Unfortunately, except for a couple of vagrants, there are no longer any tanager family birds in North America, as the Scarlet, Summer and Western Tanagers have been reclassified and placed in the cardinal family.

These photos have been taken over the past 2 years in Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Caribbean. The Crimson-collared Tanager is perhaps my favorite of the tanager photos.

Crimson-collared Tanager - male

The Blue-Gray Tanager is found widely in the tropics and most birders have seen it. It is also readily attracted to banana feeders.

Blue-gray Tanager

Another blue one is the Masked Flowerpiercer. He is distinctive with his red eye and black mask.

Masked Flowerpiercer - male

The Red-legged Honeycreeper is an even brighter blue. This is another very common bird in the tropics.

Red-legged Honeycreeper - male

Among yellow birds, the Saffron Finch is a bird of South America, but it has also been introduced in Hawaii where this photo was taken.

Saffron Finch - male

The Golden Tanager is another South American bird. 

Golden Tanager

The Silver-throated Tanager is yellow with a silver throat and black streaking on the back.

Silver-throated Tanager

The male Green Honeycreeper is almost iridescent. The black face and yellow bill confirm the ID. The birds in Ecuador like this one are more a blue-green then green.

Green Honeycreeper - male

The Green-and-gold Tanager is mostly green bodied with black streaking.

Green-and-gold Tanager

The Bay-headed Tanager is a sentimental favorite of mine. On my first trip to Costa Rica in 1994, it was one of the birds on the cover of the Costa Rica bird book, so I was familiar with the colors. On the first morning of the trip, we drove to a national park and the first bird I saw when I stepped out of the van was one of these!

Bay-headed Tanager

Lastly is the Hispaniolan Spindalis. This is one of 4 Caribbean species that was split from what was known as the Stripe-headed Tanager until the split about 15 years ago. I got a nice photo with him eating a berry.

Hispaniolan Spindalis - male

I hope that everyone gets a chance to visit the tropics and see some of these beautiful birds.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 224 - Costa Rica #5 - Tanagers

It is always a delight in the tropics to see the brightly colored tanagers. The Thraupidae (tanager) family contains 370+ species, so there are many to see and photo. Also, they tend to be medium sized birds and are readily attracted to fruit feeders, usually bananas, so can be easily photographed.

The Palm Tanager (Thruapis palmarum) is a 6" grayish-olive bird with black wings. The sexes are similar. Its range is Guatemala to Southern Brazil.

Palm Tanager

His cousin the Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) is also 6". It has a pale blue head and body with darker blue wings and tail. The sexes are similar and it also has an extensive range from Mexico to Amazonia.

Blue-gray Tanager

The next 3 are all various combinations of red and black and all in the genus ramphocelus.
The Passerini's Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii) is a 6" black tanager with a red lower back and rump. The female is gray and yellowish. It is a resident of the Caribbean slope and was along with the next bird formerly known as Scarlet-rumped Tanager.

Passerini's Tanager - male

Passerini's Tanager - female

The male Cherrie's Tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis) is identical the the above bird. The female is different in that she is brighter and has an orange breast. It is resident on the Pacific slope.

Cherrie's Tanager - male

Cherrie's Tanager - female

The third of this genus is the Crimson-collared Tanager (Ramphocelus sanguinolentus). This 7" is black with a red hood and collar. I think this was the most stunning of the tanagers on the trip. The sexes are similar.

Crimson-collared Tanager

An unusual group of tanagers are called flowerpiercers. They have a hooked upper mandible that they use to tear a hole in the base of the flower to get the nectar. Thus they don't accumulate any pollen and don't help the flowers propagate. We watched some hummingbirds using these holes created to get the nectar, as well. The Slaty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea) is a 4" bird endemic to Costa Rica and Panama in the mountains above 4000'. The male is gray and the female is olive. Here is the male and the peculiar beak is seen well.

Slaty Flowerpiercer - male

The Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a 4" nectar feeding bird. The breeding male is dark blue with a black face and wings and red legs. The female and non-breeding male are olive.

Red-legged Honeycreeper - breeding male

The Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) is 5". The male is blue-green with a black hood and yellow bill. The female is a bright green with yellow bill.

Green Honeycreeper - male

Green Honeycreeper - female

The genus tangara has many of the most brightly colored tanagers species. They are all smaller at 5" in length and the sexes are usually similar. The Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola) has a blue-green breast, yellow green back and rufous head. The female is duller.

Bay-headed Tanager

The Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata) is multi-colored blue, black and white and a gold hood.

Golden-hooded Tanager

The Spangle-cheeked Tanager (Tangara dowii) has a rusty belly, bluish back, green breast, black face and white feathers on cheeks.

Spangle-cheeked Tanager

Lastly is the Silver-throated Tanager (Tangara icterocephala) is overall yellow with a white throat and black streaks on the wings and back.

Silver-throated Tanager

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe