Blue-and-yellow Tanager - BirdForum Opus

Male of subspecies schulzei
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Villa San Lorenzo, Salta Province, Argentina, October, 2019

Rauenia bonariensis

Pipraeidea bonariensis
Thraupis bonariensis

Identification

Female
Photo © by Francisco Paludo
Curitiba, PR, Brazil, 15 September 2017

17 cm (6¾ in). Two main forms
Male

• Blue head and throat
• Black mask
• Greenish back
• Yellow rump
• Yellow underparts
• Orange breast
  

Female

• Duller
• Pale blue head
• Olive back
• Whitish throat
• Buffy underparts

Variation

Males of the northern subspecies has greenish mantle while the mantle is bluish-black in the other subspecies; these usually have a warmer orange tone to yellow areas.

Distribution

South America: found in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.

Taxonomy

Sometimes included in the genus Thraupis.

Subspecies

Male of subspecies darwinii
Photo © by NJLarsen
Puembo Birding Garden, Quito, Ecuador, 28 August 2015

There are 4 subspecies^[1]:

• R. b. darwinii:

• Andes of Ecuador to northern Chile

• R. b. composita:

• Andes of eastern and central Bolivia

• R. b. schulzei:

• Paraguay and north-western Argentina (south to Mendoza and Lavalle)

• R. b. bonariensis:

• Southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) to Uruguay and northern Argentina

This species has been proposed split into two with the first subspecies listed becoming Green-mantled Tanager Pipraeidea darwinii.

Habitat

Pacific lowlands and inter-montane valleys, cloudforests, montanes and high altitude shrubland, light woodland, agricultural areas and gardens with trees and shrubs.

Behaviour

Female of subspecies darwinii
Photo © by AWPittman
8,000 ft. in the Andes Mountains, Central Ecuador, December 2015

Diet

Readily visits bird feeders. Their diet consists of both fruit and insects.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Arthur Grosset
4. BirdForum Member observations
5. Hilty, S., J. del Hoyo, N. Collar, E. de Juana, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Blue-and-yellow Tanager (Pipraeidea bonariensis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.baytan3.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-and-yellow Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-and-yellow_Tanager

External Links

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