Bulletin 416 - Colombia 2022 #13 - Tanagers - Part 3

 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 juvenile male 7" Flame-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus flammigerus) has a black head, back tails and winds. The underside is mostly yello. The rump is orange. The adult male would be all black except for the orange rump.

Flame-rumped Tanager - juvenile male

The 5" Glistening-green Tanager (Chlorochrysa phoenicotus) has been a tough bird for me. This was only my second time to see it and still not a wonderful photo. It is an easy ID.

Glistening-green Tanager

His cousin is the endemic 5" Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima). This beautiful bird was coming to feeders outside of Cali.

Multicolored Tanager

The next bird is the very common male 5.5" Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza). The female is plain dull green. This male is more blue than green whereas the birds in Costa Rica are definitely green.

Green Honeycreeper

The 6" Superciliated Hemispingus (Hemispingus superciliaris) is an olive backed bird, with yellow underneath and a white eyebrow.

Superciliated Hemispingus

The 7" male White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) is all black but for a white line on his shoulder.

White-lined Tanager - male

The female is rufus coloured - hence the Latin species name.

White-lined Tanager - female

Like many birds, the juvenile males appear the same as the females and when they are molting into their adult plumage, they are some of each color. Strange looking.

White-lined Tanager - juvenile male molting

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 279 - Colombia #2 - Tanagers

The tanagers are a huge new world family and many are very colorful. I saw many of them on this trip to Colombia and here is the first group.

Pablo Florez, the main guide, has co-written a book where to bird in Colombia. In it, he has a list of the Top 30 Most Sought-after Birds by a group of 40 birders visiting Colombia. I saw 12 of them on the trip and got photos of 10. When I show one of these birds,  I will mention its placement on the list.

So here is the first of the top 30 birds, the elusive the 8" Tanager Finch (Oreothraupis arremonops). It is #21 of 30 on the list. We actually had a small group of 4 birds and this one sat still for many minutes allowing multiple photographs. It is rusty orange with a black head and white stripe across it. It is listed as vulnerable.

Tanager Finch

The mountain tanagers are larger tanagers usually about 7" in length. I saw 3 differernt species on the trip as almost the whole trip was in the Andes. The 7" Lacrimose Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus lacrymosus) is slate gray above and mustard yellow below and it has a yellow tear below the eye.

Lacrimose Mountain Tanager

The 7" Black-chinned Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus notabilis) has a black head with a yellow crown patch and golden underparts.

Black-chinned Mountain Tanager

The 9" Hooded Mountain Tanager (Bauthraupis montana) has a black head, yellow underparts and distinctive red eye.

Hooded Mountain Tanager

There were a couple of green colored tanagers found on the trip. The large 7" Grass-green Tanager (Chlorornis riefferii) is all green except for a chestnut face and undertail. It also has a red bill and legs.

Grass-green Tanager

The 5" Glistening-green Tanager (Chlorochrysa phoenicotis) is an oily green color with a small yellow ear patch.

Glistening-green Tanager

The ramphocelus genus of tanagers are manly black and red. The 6.5" male Flame-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus flammigerus) is black with an orange red-rump. It is endemic to Colombia.

Flame-rumped Tanager - male

The 6.75" Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus) is mostly red with black wings.

Crimson-backed Tanager - male

I have photographs now of 97 of the 370 tanager species and you can see them all here.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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