Palm Tanager

How to find it

Look around palm trees, open shrubby areas, gardens and forest edges. Listen for the noisy squeaks, which help you locate the bird in dense foliage. In the driest areas where it lives, palm clusters are where it is easiest to find. Fruiting trees are worth watching, since small groups gather there. It also joins mixed-species flocks, so check them when one passes. Feeders are another good bet, because it is among the common birds at Costa Rican feeders.

How to recognise it

The Palm Tanager is a rather plain bird. Look for these marks:

Smoky olive-gray plumage.

Blackish flight feathers.

A long blackish tail edged in green.

A pale olive-yellow wing band, which shows best in flight.

It measures about 19 cm and weighs about 36 g. The sexes look alike, and young birds are duller. A photographer in Costa Rica notes that the plain colours blend well into dry or dead branches, while against a blue sky the subtle colours show well. Because the plumage is so understated, shape, tail and wing pattern matter more than any bright patch.

What it sounds like

Recording: gabrielfialho, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Pairs stay together all year. Palm Tanagers are social, restless and unwary, usually in pairs or small flocks, sometimes with other species. They eat fruit, especially figs and Cecropia catkins, and also search foliage, including palm fronds, for insects and spiders, often hanging down to peer under large leaves. In Costa Rica the nest is a cup of dry leaf strips and palm fibre, sometimes with moss, usually hidden in the crown of a palm, 6 to 30 m up. The species has also been seen rubbing ants on its feathers, which may help control parasites.

Where it lives

The Palm Tanager likes open country with scattered trees, especially palms. That includes oil palm and coconut plantations, pastures, parks and gardens. In Costa Rica it is fairly common nationwide from the lowlands up to about 1500 m. The exception is the dry northwest, where it is rare and local. It is especially abundant along the Caribbean coast, though across most of the country it is less numerous than the Blue-gray Tanager. Across its wider range it lives in dry and humid regions and also uses secondary forest, forest edges and farmland.

When to see it

In Costa Rica it breeds between March and June.

Similar birds

The Blue-gray Tanager, called Viuda or Viudita in Costa Rica, is a close relative that is usually more numerous, and it is more likely to settle in towns and cities. Two less common look-alikes are the Plain-colored Tanager and the Sulphur-rumped Tanager. The Plain-colored has a smaller bill and a bit of black on the face, and in good light shows a buffy wash on the belly and vent. The Palm Tanager is the one found around palms.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR list pairs the Spanish name Tangara Palmera with the nickname Viudita de la Costa. The related Blue-gray Tanager is called Viudita or Viuda. Spanish-language sources say the name tángara palmera is used in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern because it has a large range and a stable population.

Photography tips

Watch fruiting trees, where small groups gather, and check forest edges and clearings, where the birds often forage. Against a blue sky the subtle colours show well, so try to shoot from below when the bird perches in an open palm crown.