Flame Colored Tanager

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Panama, Chiriqui, May 2010

Bird name: Flame Colored Tanager
Latin: Piranga bidentata
Other: Flame-coloured Tanager (UK) • Quitrique de espalda rayada (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers - now Cardinalidae
Range: W Mexico to Panama
Similar: White-winged Tanager

My taxi driver in Cerro Punta, who quickly got the bird-watching bug, spotted the above Flame-colored Tanager on the windowsill of a house we were passing. I was a little nervous walking into a stranger’s front garden and my prevarication probably missed me a really good shot.

The male Flame-colored Tanager is a fantastically bright orange-red bird. The female is yellow not red, but still has the white wingbars. Both male and female have a dark shadow behind the eye - this area is darker in the similar White-winged Tanager.