Loriotus luctuosus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The white-shouldered tanager (Loriotus luctuosus) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found from Honduras to Panama, on Trinidad, and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The white-shouldered tanager was formally described in 1837 with the binomial Tachyphonus luctuosus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Tachyphonus was polyphyletic. In the subsequent reorganization the genus Loriotus was resurrected for the white-shouldered tanager and two other species. The genus had been introduced in 1821 by the Polish zoologist Feliks Paweł Jarocki.
The IOC, AviList, the Clements taxonomy, and the North and South American Classification Committees have adopted the new genus. However, in 2016 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) instead assigned the white-shouldered tanager and the other two species to the genus Islerothraupis and retains them there as of late 2025. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a White-shouldered Tanager sighting in Parque Natural Metropolitano on a given day, based on 1,308 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 21st most-seen of the 328 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a White-shouldered Tanager in Parque Natural Metropolitano on a given day, against about 10% in July, the lowest month. That is one of Parque Natural Metropolitano's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 350 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-shouldered 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.
2nd of 31
Of the 31 parks where we can rate White-shouldered Tanager sightings, Parque Natural Metropolitano ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the White-shouldered Tanager that you can see in Parque Natural Metropolitano (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Blue-gray Tanager (about 70%), Crimson-backed Tanager (about 60%) and Palm Tanager (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-shouldered Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Parque Natural Metropolitano (1,308 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
