About the Turquoise Tanager
The turquoise tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is a resident bird from Trinidad, much of Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, and south to Bolivia. Despite its scientific name, it is not found in Mexico. It is restricted to areas with humid forest, with its primary distribution being the Amazon. It was formerly treated as being conspecific with the white-bellied tanager which is found in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
Adult turquoise tanagers are 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weigh 20 g. They are long-tailed and with a dark stout pointed bill. The adult is mainly dark blue and black, with turquoise edging to the primaries. Most races have yellow lower underparts, but this is paler, more cream, in the nominate subspecies found in north-eastern South America. The Trinidadian race, T. m. vieiloti, has a darker blue head and breast and more vividly yellow underparts than the mainland taxa. Their song is a fast squeaky chatter tic-tic-tic-tic-tic.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
When to see it
Peak activity in October · a resident species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Saffron-crowned TanagerTangara xanthocephalaThe saffron-crowned tanager is an average-sized species of tanager, with a length of 12.5–13.5 cm (4.9–5.3 in) and a mass of 15–23.6 g (0.53–0.83 oz).
Blue-and-black TanagerTangara vassoriiThe blue-and-black tanager is an average-sized species for its genus, with a mean length of 13 cm (5.1 in) and mass of 18 g (0.63 oz).
Paradise TanagerTangara chilensisThe paradise tanager is a brilliantly multicolored, medium-sized songbird whose length varies between 13.5 and 15 cm.
Learn the Turquoise Tanager for real
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