Bird of the day
Bay-headed tanager
Tangara gyrola
The bay-headed tanager (Tangara gyrola) is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, South America south to Ecuador, Bolivia and north-western Brazil, and on Trinidad.
Adult bay-headed tanagers are 14 cm long and weigh 19.5 g. The nominate race T. g. gyrola is mainly green apart from a chestnut head, a blue or green belly, and a thin gold collar on the hind neck. Sexes are similar, but immatures are duller with chestnut-flecked green heads. There is considerable plumage variation between the various subspecies, and T. g.viridissima of northeast Venezuela and Trinidad has green underparts concolorous with the rest of the body plumage.
The bay-headed tanager's song is a slow seee, seee, seee, tsou, tsooy.
Aliases
Tangara gyrola