Blue-capped Tanager

Blue-capped Tanager

Sporathraupis cyanocephala

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Bogota

In 3 days <5%

18 Verified sightings at Bogota
1,215 In all 6 parks From 2019 to 2026
May Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Blue-capped Tanager

The blue-capped tanager (Sporathraupis cyanocephala) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It was formerly placed in the genus Thraupis but is now the only species in the genus Sporathraupis. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and heavily degraded former forest.

The blue-capped tanager was formally described in 1837 by the French naturalists Alcide d'Orbigny and Frédéric de Lafresnaye from a specimen collected in the Bolivian Yungas. They coined the binomial name Aglaia cyanocephala. The species was usually placed in the genus Thraupis but when a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that it was not closely related to other members of Thraupis, it was moved to the resurrected genus Sporathraupis that had been erected in 1898 by Robert Ridgway with the blue-capped tanager as the type species. The genus name Sporathraupis combines the Ancient Greek spora meaning "seed" with thraupis, the word for an unknown small bird. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark blue" with -kephalos meaning "-headed... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song0:46

Colombia · 2020

© Jerome Fischer · XC523345 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:41

Ecuador · 2017

© Leonardo Ordóñez-Delgado · XC447011 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Flight call0:29

Ecuador · 1997

© Mitch Lysinger · XC261225 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Los Nevados National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
~10%
2 Podocarpus National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
~10%
3 Henri Pittier National Park 🇻🇪 Venezuela
~10%
4 Farallones de Cali National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
5 Chingaza National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
6 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Quito 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
2 Bogota 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Blue-capped Tanager in Bogota?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Tanager sighting in Bogota on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 174th most-seen of the 231 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Blue-capped Tanager in Bogota?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Tanager in Bogota on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Blue-capped Tanager?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-capped Tanager sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Bogota the best place to see a Blue-capped Tanager?

Among the best

Of the 2 cities where we can rate Blue-capped Tanager sightings, Bogota ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Quito (Ecuador, under 5%).

Which relatives of the Blue-capped Tanager live in Bogota?

Same family: Thraupidae

The closest relatives of the Blue-capped Tanager that you can see in Bogota (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Black Flowerpiercer (about 30%), Blue-gray Tanager (about 30%) and Rusty Flowerpiercer (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Blue-capped Tanager sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Blue-capped Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Bogota (18 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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