Green-headed Tanager

Tangara seledon

Happy Saturday everyone! I don't know about where you all are reading from, but here is it pretty dark and rainy, so a bright colored little bird is exactly what I need to liven things up!

Meet the Green-headed Tanager... which has a misleading name. Though they definitely sport some green feathers, especially on the neck, their actual heads are more of a Turquoise color. The rest of the body is boldly patterned with shades of blue and green, and when they fly... Surprise! Their rump is bright orange!

Green-headed Tanagers are found in the Atlantic coastal forests of South America, residing in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. They live in small flocks that number 6-20 birds, and they forage for fruits as well as for small arthropods. And did you know that tanager families stick together? The parents often have two broods per season, and their offspring from both will hang around for about a year before going off on their own.

Green-headed Tanagers are common throughout their range, and do not appear to have any major threats against them, though an actual population size has not been quantified.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
Size : Length up to 5in (13cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Thraupidae -- Genus : Tangara -- Species : T. seledon

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Green and Gold Tanager

Tangara schrankii

Another day, another pretty bird. Today's feathered friend is one of the 49 species found within the Tanager genus, Tangara. Meet the appropriately named Green and Gold Tanager!

While it would be appropriate for these guys to live up near Lambeau Field (horrible football reference, I'm sorry), they are actually found in the tropical and subtropical forests and swamps of the Amazon Basin.

Green and Gold Tanagers are omnivores that forage up in the trees for fruits, nuts, seeds, and insects. They also build their nests up in the trees, constructing small cup-shaped structures in which they lay 2-3 reddish-brown eggs. Females do just about all of the incubating and feeding, and the chicks fledge only 15 days after hatching.

While it appears that the population is declining due to habitat loss, the rate is not nearly fast enough for there to be major concern at this time. The species also has a pretty huge range, placing them as being of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : South America
Size : Length up to 5in (13cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Thraupidae -- Genus : Tangara -- Species : T. schrankii

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Western Tanager

(Image Source)

Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) are very bright songbirds found in Western North America. They are migratory, and spend their summer breeding at very high latitudes compared to others in their family. Some birds breed as far north as 60 degrees in the Canadian Northwest Territories. Western Tanagers measure about 7.5in(19cm) long.

Western Tanagers are rather interesting in that the bright red on their heads is not part of their "natural" coloration. The birds are not able to produce the pigment, known as rhodoxanthin, by themselves. Instead, it comes from the insects that they eat, who in turn get it from plants.

Insects make up a large bulk of their diet, followed by fruits. They live in groups of up to 30 birds, and between 1 and 5 eggs are laid in cup sized nests. Western Tanagers are preyed upon by a variety of raptor species.

Interestingly, Western Tanagers are in a state of taxonomic confusion. They once belonged to the actual Tanager family, Thraupidae, but have since been moved to Cardinalidae, which is the home of the Cardinals. Some locations still list them in their previous family.

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