Turquoise Tanager

Taxobox
name = Turquoise Tanager


image_caption = "Tangara m. mexicana"
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Thraupidae
genus = "Tangara"
species = "T. mexicana"
binomial = "Tangara mexicana"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1766)

The Turquoise Tanager, "Tangara mexicana", is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder from Trinidad, Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia and much of Brazil. It is restricted to areas with humid forest, with its primary distribution being the Amazon, while a disjunct population occurs in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil. The latter population is sometimes considered a separate species, the White-bellied Tanager, "Tangara brasiliensis".

It occurs in forest, woodland and cultivation. The bulky cup nest is built in a tree or shrub, and the female incubates three brown-blotched grey-green eggs.

Adult Turquoise Tanagers are 14cm long and weigh 20g. 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. The taxon "brasiliensis" differ more conspicuously, it having a white belly and a blue edging to the primaries.

These are social birds usually found in groups. They eat a wide variety of fruit and also take insects, often gleaned from twigs.

The Turquoise Tanager’s song is a fast squeaky chatter "tic-tic-tic-tic-tic".

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* "Birds of Venezuela" by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
*cite book
last = ffrench
first = Richard
title = A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
edition = 2nd edition
year = 1991
publisher = Comstock Publishing
isbn = 0-8014-9792-2

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=9250 Turquoise Tanager videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/20118800.htm Stamps] (for Suriname) with RangeMap–(shows the disjunct range in coastal SEast Brazil)
* [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=turquoise+tanager&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Turquoise Tanager photo gallery] VIREO