Blue-and-gold Tanager

How to find it

Concentrate on the Caribbean slope, in mature forest at middle elevations. Scan every mixed flock that moves through the canopy and look up for a yellow belly and a red eye. Check forest edges and gaps too. At fruit feeders, go through tanager flocks carefully, because this less common bird can hide among the common Silver-throated Tanagers. Do not expect an easy tick: on a 2017 tour at La Selva a guide spotted one in mixed flocks along the entry road, but the rest of the group could not relocate it.

How to recognise it

Look for a stout tanager with dark blue to blackish upperparts and mostly yellow underparts. One field summary describes the plumage as bluish black on the upperparts, head, tail and flanks, with the rest of the body gold.

The red eye is the striking mark, and the first thing to check when you find a dark tanager high in the canopy.

It has a short tail and a stout, heavy build. Compare it with the slimmer, more flitting tanagers that share the forest: this is the bulky, calm bird working along the branches.

Because it is usually in the canopy, expect to be looking up. Forest edges and gaps can give better angles on the yellow underparts.

Behaviour and diet

This is a slow, deliberate mover. It works through the forest canopy, unlike its more flitting tanager relatives.

It mostly feeds in the canopy on fruit, insects and spiders, and it sometimes takes nectar from flowers.

Mixed flocks are the way to find it, so patient scanning of a passing flock pays off better than hunting for it alone.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives in lowland and mid-elevation evergreen forest, forest edges and gaps, at about 300 to 1,500 m. It is usually found in the canopy, and most records fall between roughly 700 and 1,050 m.

In Costa Rica it lives on the Caribbean slope, from the far southeast of Guanacaste to Cartago province. One writer calls it locally common in mossy, mature, mid-elevation rainforest here. A recording of the Costa Rican subspecies was made in Braulio Carrillo National Park at about 590 m.

When to see it

A Costa Rican birding guide says any time of year is good for birding at Virgen del Socorro, a site where this tanager can turn up.

Similar birds

A close relative is the Black-and-yellow Tanager, which is mostly yellow, but the male has a black mantle, wings and tail. The Blue-and-gold is dark bluish black above and gold below, and it shares the Caribbean foothill range. Both turn up in the same mixed flocks. At feeders it also shares company with the common Silver-throated Tanager.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Tangara de Costillas Negras, and the AOCR list adds the nickname Agüión. Panama calls it tangara azulidorada, Colombia uses tangara azul-y-oro, and another Spanish name is cachaquito azul y dorado.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list codes it R-END, a resident bird found only in Costa Rica and Panama, and worldwide it is listed as Near Threatened.

Photography tips

Mixed flocks are the way to find it. Scan tanager flocks at feeders for this less common, local bird among the common Silver-throated Tanagers. At Virgen del Socorro, a guide advises staying with mixed flocks as long as you can, since most birds are there, including rarities like this one. The better habitat lies by the river and across the bridge.