Piranga bidentata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The flame-colored tanager (Piranga bidentata), formerly known as the stripe-backed tanager, is a medium-sized American songbird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found from Mexico throughout Central America to northern Panama and occasionally in the United States; four subspecies are recognized. The flame-colored tanager is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long, the male having predominantly red-orange while the female is more yellowish orange.
English naturalist William Swainson described the flame-colored tanager in 1827 from material collected by William Bullock and his son from a specimen from Temascaltepec in Mexico. French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye described Piranga sanguinolenta as a separate species in 1839, though the two were generally regarded as conspecific by the end of the 19th century.
A 2019 genetic study using mitochondrial DNA showed that the flame-colored tanager was the sister taxon of the western tanager (P. ludoviciana). The flame-colored tanager and the other species of genus Piranga were originally placed in the family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers. Since approximately 2008 they have... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Volcán Barú National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | El Triunfo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 5 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Irazú Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Tigra National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 8 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 9 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Celaque National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 12 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | Cusuco National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 14 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Flame-colored Tanager sighting in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, based on 4,152 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 18th most-seen of the 467 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Flame-colored Tanager in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, against about 20% in October, the lowest month. Those are among Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park's driest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 570 mm in October.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Flame-colored Tanager sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Flame-colored Tanager sightings, Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Los Quetzales National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%) and Volcán Barú National Park (Panama, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Flame-colored Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (4,152 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.
