Bird
Bird
Bay-headed Tanager
Tangara gyrola
The Bay-headed Tanager is one of the most vividly coloured songbirds in Trinidad's forest canopy, combining a rich chestnut head with brilliant green body plumage and a turquoise-blue rump.
The Bay-headed Tanager is one of the most vividly coloured songbirds in Trinidad's forest canopy, combining a rich chestnut head with brilliant green body plumage and a turquoise-blue rump. It often joins mixed-species flocks moving through the mid- and upper canopy.
Identification
A small, richly patterned tanager around 13 to 14 cm long, with a chestnut-maroon head and throat, a golden-buff patch on the nape, bright green upperparts and underparts, and a contrasting turquoise-blue lower back and rump. The combination of colours makes it one of the most eye-catching tanagers on the island once seen well.
Behaviour
Forages in the forest canopy and subcanopy for fruit and insects, frequently joining mixed-species foraging flocks with other tanagers, honeycreepers, and small forest birds. It moves actively through foliage gleaning insects and taking small fruits, generally staying high in the canopy and often first detected by its thin, high-pitched call notes.
Status in T&T
Fairly common in forest and forest edge across Trinidad, particularly at middle elevations in the Northern Range, though its canopy habits make it less conspicuous than more garden-tolerant tanagers. Not considered threatened. It is protected as native wildlife under the Conservation of Wildlife Act.
