Blue and Black Tanager

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Guango Lodge, Ecuador, March 2011

Bird name: Blue and Black Tanager
Latin: Tangara vassorii
Other: Tangara azulinegra (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
Similar: Masked Flowerpiercer

The Blue-and-black Tanager is found at quite high altitudes, generally above 2000m. I saw these birds at Guango Lodge on the eastern slope of the Andes in Ecuador at about 2700m.

No other tanager like it in Ecuador, but similar colours to the Masked Flowerpiercer, which has a very different bill.

Below, Blue-and-black Tanager, Guango Lodge, Ecuador, March 2011.