The yellow-winged tanager (''Thraupis abbas'') is a

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

member of the

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), 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 ...

family. It is of average size for a tanager, about 18 centimetres (7 inches long). It is distinguished by the yellow patches on its dusky green wings, marking an otherwise dark bluish and gray body. It has a pale lavender tone on its throat and breast. The juvenile lacks this color, but has an olive-green head and upper back.

Behavior and habitat

Like other members of the genus ''

Thraupis ''Thraupis'' is a genus of birds of the tanager family occurring from Mexico to Argentina and Brazil. Some are familiar species with large ranges. In Brazil it's called Pipira-azul ''(''pronn'': peepeeră, æzoól'') when it has a tone blue col ...

'', it is a species of open humid and mesic woodland. It often forms flocks of 50 or more members. It feeds on fruit, insects, and nectar. The call is high and sibilant, and may be given in flight or while perched.

Nest and eggs

The nest of the yellow-winged tanager is a small cup-shaped nest of dried fibers, leaves, and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es. It is placed at mid-height on trees. The female lays 3 eggs, which are gray, mottled with brown.

Range

The yellow-winged tanager is found on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

coasts from the states of

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

and the extreme south of San Luis Potosi in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

through the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and on the Pacific coast from the Mexican state of

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. It is generally relatively common throughout this range. Since October 2010, it has been recorded in Los Chiles, northern Costa Rica.

References

Webb, Sophie and Howell, S.N.G. ''Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America''. 1995. () Union de Ornitologos de Costa Rica - Updated CR List November 2011 - http://uniondeornitologos.com

External links

Yellow-winged Tanager videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Thraupis+abbas Photo-High Res-(Close-up, showing yellow wing) {{Taxonbar, from=Q947248 Thraupis Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Belize Birds of Guatemala Birds of El Salvador Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds described in 1830 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN