Sayaca tanager

Sayaca tanager
240px
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Thraupis
Species:	T. sayaca
Binomial name
Thraupis sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766)

The sayaca tanager (Thraupis sayaca) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers. It is a common resident in northeastern, central, and southeastern Brazil (Portuguese: sanhaço [sɐ̃ˈɲasu], sanhaço-cinzento [sɐ̃ˈɲasu sĩˈzẽtu]), and Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina (where they are known as celestinos or celestinas). A few are recorded from far southeastern Peru, but its status there is unclear, in part due to the potential of confusion with the very similar juveniles of the blue-grey tanager.

It occurs in a wide range of open to semiopen habitats, but generally avoids the interior of dense forest (such as the Amazon). This tanager visits farmland in search of orchards and adapts readily to urban environment, as long as some arboreal cover and a supply of fruits are available. It feeds on flowers, buds, and insects, and this omnivorous lifestyle has helped it to become perhaps the most — or one of the most — common urban birds in southeastern Brazil, along with the rufous-bellied thrush.

External links

• Sayaca Tanager videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Stamps (for Uruguay) with RangeMap
• Sayaca Tanager photo gallery VIREO
• Article, with reference to photo Sayaca Tanager: "Sanhaço"
• Sayaca Tanager: Photos and vocalizations The Avifauna of the Interior of Ceará, Brazil