Blue-grey Tanager vs Palm Tanager: How to Tell Them Apart

Blue-grey Tanager

Thraupis episcopus

Small35 gForest

The blue-gray tanager is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long and weighs 30–40 g (1.1–1.4 oz). Adults have a light bluish head and underparts, with darker blue upperparts and a shoulder patch colored a different shade of blue. The bill is short and quite thick. Sexes are similar, but the immature is much duller in plumage. The song is a squeaky twittering, interspersed with tseee and tsuup call notes.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Gean Carlo Valdés · Song · Islas secas, Panama · CC0

Photo: Stephen Lewis · CC0

Palm Tanager

Thraupis palmarum

Small39 gUrban

Adult palm tanagers are 19 cm (7.5 in) long and weigh 36 g (1.3 oz). They are grey to dull olive-green. The flight feathers are blackish, and the long tail is blackish edged with green. A yellow wingbar shows in flight. Sexes are similar, although females may be somewhat paler.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Zamora-Chinchipe: 'Cabañas Yankuam' 2 km S Las Orchideas, Nangaritza Valley, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Vinicius Cerutti · CC0

Where you might meet both

Colombia Costa Rica Panama Ecuador Venezuela Peru Nicaragua Brazil Trinidad & Tobago Guyana French Guiana Suriname Bolivia

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Blue-grey Tanager and Palm Tanager.