Cherrie's tanager (''Ramphocelus passerinii costaricensis'') is a medium-sized

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

. This

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12% of the Neotrop ...

is a resident breeder in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

lowlands of Costa Rica and western

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. This bird was formerly known as the scarlet-rumped tanager, but was split as a separate species from the Caribbean form, which was itself renamed as

Passerini's tanager The scarlet-rumped tanager (''Ramphocelus passerinii'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowlands from southern Mexico to western Panama. This species was formerly known as the scarlet-rumped ...

, ''Ramphocelus passerinii''. While most authorities had accepted this split, there were notable exceptions (e.g. the Howard and Moore checklist). It was lumped back into the

Scarlet-rumped Tanager The scarlet-rumped tanager (''Ramphocelus passerinii'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowlands from southern Mexico to western Panama. This species was formerly known as the scarlet-rumped ...

in 2018. Cherrie's tanager is very common from sea level to altitude, and occurs occasionally up to . The preferred habitat is semi-open areas including light second growth, woodland edges, gardens and pasture with bushes. The cup nest is built up to high in a tree. The normal clutch is two pale blue or grey eggs, marked with black, brown or lilac. This species will sometimes raise two broods in a season. The adult Cherrie's tanager is long and weighs . The adult male is mainly black except for a scarlet rump, silvery bill and dark red iris. The female has a grey head, olive upperparts, orange rump, brownish wings and tail, and ochre underparts with a broad orange breast band. The female plumage is the one that differs most from Passerini's tanager. Immatures resemble the adult female, but with a less orange breast. Cherrie's tanagers occur in pairs, small groups, or as part of a

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

, and up to a dozen birds may roost together in dense thickets at night. This species feeds on small

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

, usually swallowed whole,

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

s. Cherrie's tanager's call is a sharp ''wac''. Its song consists of a few clear pleasant notes, delivered in longer phrases than that of its Caribbean relative. This bird is called Cherrie's tanager to honor the memory of American naturalist, explorer and adventurer

George Cherrie George Kruck Cherrie (August 22, 1865 – January 20, 1948) was an American naturalist and explorer. He collected numerous specimens on nearly forty expeditions that he joined for museums and several species have been named after him. Early li ...

. Dr. Cherrie accompanied former President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

in the famous 1913 exploration of the River of Doubt, in the Brazilian amazon basin, which was later named

Rio Roosevelt The Roosevelt River (Rio Roosevelt, sometimes Rio Teodoro) is a Brazilian river, a tributary of the Aripuanã River about in length. Course The Roosevelt River begins in the state of Rondônia and flows north through tropical rainforest. It is ...

References

* Stiles and Skutch, ''A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica''

External links

* * * * Cherrie's tanager Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Cherrie's tanager Cherrie's tanager Isthmian–Pacific moist forests {{CentralAm-stub