Bulletin 427 - Brazil 2023 #8 - Tanagers - Part 1

 After 3 trips to Colombia with diminishing returns, it was time to go further afield. Pablo Flores the guide in Colombia is now leading trips to Brazil as well. So my birding buddy Martin Jackson and my daughter Chantel and I decided to go there. We visited the Pantanal, the Atlantic forest in the Sao Paulo area and had 1 day in the Chapada. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world, so it is teeming with wildlife. The Atlantic Forest is a unique ecosystem from sea level to about 1 mile elevation. It contains 800 species of birds (225 endemic) and 26 species of primates. Unfortunately it also contains 2 mega cities - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and the resulting sprawl and clearing for agriculture since the Portuguese arrived 500 years ago, has wiped out 90%+ of the original forest. About 250 species of amphibians, birds and mammals have gone extinct in the past 400 years. The good news is that many preserves and parks have been set aside to try and preserve the remaining biodiversity.

We had over 30 tanagers for the trip. Most of them were new to me. The 7.5" male Brazilian Tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius) is similar to our Scarlet Tanager except for the white lower mandible. It is an Atlantic forest endemic.

Brazilian Tanager - male

His cousin is the 7" Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo). He is mostly black with dark red on the face and breast.

Silver-beaked Tanager

A totally new type of tanager for me were the warbling finches. The 6" Grey-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus cabanisi). It is a cute sparrow sized bird with a gray striped face, gray throat and a rufous belly.

Grey-throated Warbling Finch

His cousin is the 6" Buff-throated Warbling Finch (Microspingus lateralis) is similar buth the throat is light brown. He also has only 1 white stripe on the face. This is another Brazil endemic bird.

Buff-throated Warbling Finch

The 7"  Black-faced Tanager (Schistochlamys melanopis) is a gray bird with a black face and light bill tipped with black. However, the immatures are olive and have a yellow eye ring. This immature is starting to develop his black face.

Black-faced Tanager - juvenile

His cousin, the 7" Cinnamon  Tanager (Schistochlamys ruficapillus) has a gray back and tail with an orange head, breast and under tail. He has the same black face and bill.

Cinnamon  Tanager

The 6" Long-tailed Reed Finch (Donacospiza albifrons) is listed as uncommon and inconspicuous. But the guidebook says occasionally it perches up on the reeds, as did this one.

Long-tailed Reed Finch

The only saltator for the trip was a lifer. The 8" Green-winged Saltator (Saltator similis) hs the typical gray head with the white eye-stripe. This one has a white throat.

Green-winged Saltator

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

I have photos of 143 of the 391 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 395 - Colombia 2021 #12 - Tanagers Pt 2

  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.

Grassquits are tiny finch like tanagers. The males are mostly black and the females dull brownish like sparrows. The 4" male Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor) has a black head and breast and brown back.

Black-faced Grassquit - male

The 4" male Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) is solid glossy black.

Blue-black Grassquit - male

The 6.5" Glaucous Tanager (Thraupis glaucolpa) is mostly gray but has an aquamarine blue breast and wings.

Glaucous Tanager

The 6.5" Golden-crowned Tanager (Iridosonrnis rufivertex) is a stunning bird and an easy ID if you see it.

Golden-crowned Tanager

The 9" Hooded Mountain Tanager (Buthraupis montana) has a black head, yellow breast, blue back and red eye.

Hooded Mountain Tanager

The 7.5" Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus igniventris) is another wow bird!

Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager

The 5" female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) is a green bird with bluish wash on her heaed. The male is blue and black.

Blue Dacnis - female

The 7" female Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo) is reddish-brown with a light colored bill. The male is dark red and black.

 Silver-beaked Tanager - female

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 246 - Ecuador #8 - Tanagers

The tanager family is a huge New World family of generally colorful birds. We have seen many in previous bulletins from Panama and Costa Rica. Here are some new ones I photographed in Ecuador.

The common Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) comes in a variant with white on the wings and tail. This is known as the eastern race.

Blue-gray Tanager - eastern form

One of my favorite groups is the genus ramphocelus. These are generally black and red birds. I found 2 new species in Ecuador. The Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo) is a dark cherry red with a silver lower mandible.

Silver-beaked Tanager - male

The male Lemon-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus icternotus) is all black with a bright yellow lower back and rump.

Lemon-rumped Tanager - male

The Fawn-breasted Tanager (Pipraeidea melanonota) is blue and black above, beige below and has a red eye.

Fawn-breasted Tanager

The Golden-crowned Tanager (Iridosornis rufivertex) has a black head with gold crown, purple back, bluish wings and rufous undertail.

Golden-crowned Tanager

The Blue-backed Conebill (Conirostrum sitticolor) has a black head and throat, rufous underparts and blue back and wings.

Blue-backed Conebill

The Masked Flowerpiercer (Diglossa cyanea) is a beautiful royal blue with a black mask and red eye. He has a hook on the end of his upper beak that he uses to open flowers at their base and directly obtain the nectar.

Masked Flowerpiercer

Lastly are some tangara genus tanagers which are generally very colorful. We can only wish we had some of these beauties in our yards.

The Golden Tanager (Tangara arthus) is orange-gold with a black spot on the neck and black wings.

Golden Tanager

The Green-and-gold Tanager (Tangara schrankii) is exactly as described with a black face.

Green-and-gold Tanager

The Golden-eared Tanager (Tangara chrysotis) is also green and gold, but he has an orange cheek patch and rufous belly.

Golden-eared Tanager

The Blue-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanicollis) is black with a blue head and neck.

Blue-necked Tanager

The Spotted Tanager (Tangara punctata) is mostly green with black spots.

Lastly is a bird I had really wanted to see as it was a lifer. Unfortunately it doesn't come to feeders and I didn't get a great photo. This is the gaudy Paradise Tanager (Tangara chilensis). He has an apple green head, blue underparts, red rump and the rest is black.

Paradise 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.