Blue-capped Tanager (Sporathraupis cyanocephala)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The Blue-capped Tanager has a blue crown and nape with olive-yellow upperparts and tail. It has a dusky mask through the eye. The throat and rest of the underparts are gray. The tibial area, vent, and undertail coverts are yellow. Both sexes are similar. It forages in pairs, family groups, or along with mixed species flocks in the sub-canopy of the forest, edges, and humid montane scrub. The Blue-capped tanager is superficially similar to the Blue-and-Yellow Tanager but is distinguished by having gray throat and underparts.

Status: The Blue-capped Tanager is uncommon to rare in montane forests of the east and west (Piura and Cajamarca) slopes of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1500-3100 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Tangara de Gorro Azul.

Sub-species: Blue-capped Tanager (Sporathraupis cyanocephala cyanocephala), (d’Orbigny and Lafresnaye) 1837.

Meaning of Name: Sporathraupis: Gr. Spora= seed, offspring; thraupis= Unknown small bird, perhaps some sort of finch. cyanocephala: Gr. Kuanos= dark-blue and kephalos= headed.

Formerly known as Thraupis cyanocephala (2018).

See more of the Family Thraupidae