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Hepatic Tanager

Piranga flava Order: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Tanagers (Thraupidae)

Hepatic Tanager Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Hepatic Tanager: Large tanager, dark red to orange-red overall with gray wash on back and flanks. Cheek patch is gray-red. Bill is heavy, slightly hooked, and dark. Female has olive-green upperparts and yellow-orange underparts with gray wash on flanks. Juvenile has paler underparts, brown streaks, and buff-gray wing-bars.

Range and Habitat

Hepatic Tanager: Breeds in southwest U.S. south to Mexico; also occurs from Costa Rica to South America. Spends winters south of U.S.-Mexico border. Inhabits open pine and pine-oak forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chup"

Interesting Facts

 The Hepatic Tanager was traditionally placed in the tanager family, though it is now thought to be closer to cardinals.

 It has been little studied. As of 2002, only 106 had been banded in the United States, and only one banded bird had ever been recovered.

 Hepatic means involving or resembling the liver, and these tanagers are named for the coloration of the males which is known as liver-red.

 A group of tanagers are collectively known as a "season" of tanagers.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Hepatic Tanager
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Tanager (Thraupidae)_blue
Species Piranga flava
Length8 Inches
Wingspan12.75 Inches

Hepatic Tanager

Hepatic Tanager: Large tanager, dark to orange-red overall, gray wash on back and flanks. Gray-red cheek patch. Heavy, dark bill is slightly hooked. Legs and feet are gray. Forages in upper foliage of trees, sometimes catches insects in midair. Swift direct flight on rapid wing beats.

● Song: "chup"

● Foraging & Feeding: Hepatic Tanager: Feeds mostly on insects in upper foliage of tall trees, where it gleans prey from branches, stems, and leaves. Sometimes catches insects in flight. Also eats fruits.

● Breeding & nesting: Hepatic Tanager: Three to five blue green eggs with brown markings are laid in a shallow cup nest made of forbs, grass, stems, and flower petals, lined with fine grass, and built on a low horizontal branch, 15 to 50 feet above the ground. Eggs are incubated by the female for about 13 to 14 days.

● Similar species: Hepatic Tanager: Scarlet Tanager has distinctly black wings and tail; female Scarlet Tanager has black wings and tail and lacks orange wash on underparts. Summer Tanager has gray bill and lacks gray cheek patch; female Summer Tanager has gray bill and lacks gray wash on flanks. Other juvenile tanagers lack black bills and streaked breasts.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Hepatic Tanager Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Hepatic Tanager: Breeds in southwest U.S. south to Mexico; also occurs from Costa Rica to South America. Spends winters south of U.S.-Mexico border. Inhabits open pine and pine-oak forests.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationUncommon to fairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.3 Ounces