The sayaca tanager (''Thraupis sayaca'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Thraupidae 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 ...

, 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 ...

s. It is a common resident in northeastern, central, and southeastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

( or ), and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and northeastern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(where they are known as or ). A few are recorded from far southeastern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, but its status there is unclear, in part due to the potential of confusion with the very similar juveniles of the

blue-grey tanager The blue-gray tanager (''Thraupis episcopus'') is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. I ...

. It occurs in a wide range of open to semiopen habitats, but generally avoids the interior of dense forest (such as the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

). This tanager visits farmland in search of orchards and adapts readily to urban environment, as long as some arboreal cover and a supply of fruits are available. It feeds on flowers, buds, and insects, and this

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

lifestyle has helped it to become perhaps the most — or one of the most — common urban birds in southeastern Brazil, along with the rufous-bellied thrush.

Taxonomy

The sayaca tanager was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in the

12th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

'' under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Tanagra sayaca''. In 1648, well before the introduction of the binomial system, the German naturalist

Georg Marcgrave Georg Marcgrave (originally , also spelled ''"Marcgraf" "Markgraf"'') (1610 – 1644) was a German naturalist and astronomer, whose posthumously published ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae'' was a major contribution to early modern science. Life B ...

had described the sayaca tanager as the ''Sayacu'' in his ''

Historia Naturalis Brasiliae ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae'' (), originally written in Latin, is the first scientific work on the natural history of Brazil, written by Dutch people, Dutch naturalist Willem Piso and containing research done by the German scientist Georg Ma ...

''. The specific epithet is from Tupi ''Saí-acú'' meaning "very lively"; it was applied to various tanagers. The type locality is the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

in Brazil. This species is now placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

'' that was introduced by the German naturalist

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...

in 1826. Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * '' T. s. boliviana'' Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1941 – north Bolivia * ''T. s. obscura''

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, 1924 – central, south Bolivia to west Argentina * ''T. s. sayaca'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1766) – east, south Brazil, Paraguay, northeast Argentina and Uruguay

References

External links

Sayaca Tanager videos
on the Internet Bird Collection * (for

) with RangeMap
Sayaca Tanager photo gallery
VIREO

Sayaca Tanager: "Sanhaço"

The Avifauna of the Interior of Ceará, Brazil sayaca tanager Birds of the Cerrado Birds of the Caatinga Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Brazil Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay Birds of Uruguay Birds of Argentina sayaca tanager sayaca tanager Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Thraupidae-stub