Sporathraupis cyanocephala
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 4 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Tanager sighting in Podocarpus National Park on a given day, based on 211 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 95th most-seen of the 446 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and July–August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-capped Tanager in Podocarpus National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May–June and September–February, the lowest months.
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.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Blue-capped Tanager sightings, Podocarpus National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Los Nevados National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%).
Same family: Thraupidae
The closest relatives of the Blue-capped Tanager that you can see in Podocarpus National Park (family Thraupidae, Tanagers and Allies) are Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager (about 40%), Masked Flowerpiercer (about 40%) and Blue-necked Tanager (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-capped Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Podocarpus National Park (211 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.
