White-winged Tanager (Piranga leucoptera)

Identification & Behavior: ~14 cm (5.5 in). The adult male White-winged Tanager is bright red with black wings and tail. It has two conspicuous white wing bars. The adult female and immature are yellowish with dusky wings and tail and white wing bars. It forages in the canopy of humid montane forests in pairs and almost always accompanying mixed-species foraging flocks. The White-winged Tanager is similar to the Vermilion Tanager but is distinguished by being pure red on the face and throat and by having wing bars. Also, see Scarlet Tanager.

Status: The White-winged Tanager is uncommon in the canopy of montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 900-1800 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Piranga de Ala Blanca.

Sub-species: White-winged Tanager (Piranga leucoptera ardens), (Tschudi), 1844.

Meaning of Name: Piranga: Güaraní name Pirangá red (bird), for a small bird, a finch or a
tanager. leucoptera: Gr. Leukos= white and pteros= winged.

See more of the Family Cardinalidae