The Colorful Tanagers of Ecuador

"WOW!! Look at the color of that bird!!" That was my reaction to my first sighting of a Glistening- green Tanager - at the Mashpi Reserve in the Westslope Cloud Forest of Ecuador. And pretty much those same words were repeated by me on a number of occasions on the first view of a new - for me - Tanager species. Field guides and even photographs cannot do justice to the colors of these birds when viewed in a natural setting. Ecuador lays claim to more than 130 species of Tanagers and their close allies. And a majority of these species display colors or color combinations that just knock your socks off.

In my preparation for the trip to Ecuador, review of the color plates in the field guide certainly gave me some idea about what to expect color-wise of the various major groups of birds to be encountered. I thought that the hummingbirds and the trogons and toucan groups would be among my favorites with tanagers right up there. Hummingbirds are very photogenic and the luminescence of their feathers adds a special character to many of them. The trogons and toucans are mostly very colorful and unique in some ways that give them special status. But the color plates of the field guide left me unprepared for how the Tanager group would strike me. Unfortunately, I do not have an adequate means to demonstrate their impact on my visual senses. For the most part, the tanagers were not especially easy to photograph. Oftentimes, they were high in the forest canopy and back-lit in a way that muted their colors. And many other times, they were not close enough for good images. The best photos I got of them were mostly at feeders where they were eating bananas and the setting was less than satisfactory.The following image of a color plate from a field guide will give you an idea of the wide range of colors and color combinations that this group of birds displays. But the only way to come close to what we saw would be to include a nice idyllic forest background for each species. Most of my photo images that follow I consider to be of marginal or poor quality. Sorry, but that is the best that I have of this group. A Beryl-spangled Tanager - fairly common.Scarlet-thighed DacnisGolden-crowned Tanager.Blue-winged Mountain-Tanagers were among the most common ones seen.Golden Tanagers were also rather common - on the West slope of the Andes.Paradise tanagers were among our favorites, but only seen several times. In this group, there were about eight birds - all taking turns at a bath in the water that was held in the leaves of this bromeliad epiphyte - a common type of plant in these very moist forests that grows on trees, but apparently does not harm them. We watched this group for perhaps 10 minutes or so just savoring their brilliance. Click on the picture so you can get an enlarged view of the "outrageous" combination of colors this species sports. Did the Tanager group become my favorite? It is difficult to make a choice if one has to, but the hummingbirds are difficult to beat, maybe because they are so photogenic! They will be featured here in several more days.