Blue-gray Tanager: how to recognise it
A bird of North America and South America. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Ad Konings · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Thraupis episcopus
- Family
- Tanagers and Allies
- Size
- About 18 cm
- Habitat
- Gardens, towns, farmland and forest edge
- Found in
- North America and South America
The key marks
Pale sky-blue-grey tanager with brighter blue wings and tail and a short, stout bill. Sayaca Tanager is a duller, more uniform grey-blue, with less contrast between body and wings.
Voice
A thin, squeaky twittering song and high 'tsee' calls.
Good to know
It comes readily to gardens, eating fruit, nectar and insects, and occurs from southern Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Sayaca Tanager. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in gardens, towns, farmland and forest edge. It is especially common in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.