Piranga olivacea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea) is a medium-sized American songbird in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Until 2009, it was placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), but it and other members of its genus have since been classified as belonging to the cardinal family. Breeding males have bright red plumage with black wings and tails, while females are yellow-olive. Outside the breeding season, males develop plumage similar to that of females, although their wings and tails remain darker.
The species breeds mainly in large deciduous forests in eastern North America. It migrates through Central America to spend the winter in forests along the Andean foothills of northwestern South America. Scarlet tanagers feed mainly on insects, but they also eat fruit when it is available. Habitat fragmentation can increase nest predation and brood parasitism, and populations are declining in some areas. However, the species is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The genus name Piranga is from Tupi Tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird, and the specific olivacea is from Neo-Latin olivaceus, "olive-green". Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 8 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 4 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet Tanager sighting in Tenorio Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 194 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 195th most-seen of the 444 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Scarlet Tanager in Tenorio Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–September and November–March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scarlet 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.
14th of 55
Of the 55 parks where we can rate Scarlet Tanager sightings, Tenorio Volcano National Park ranks 14th at under 5%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 30%), Shenandoah National Park (United States, about 30%) and Great Smoky Mountains National Park (United States, about 20%).
Same genus: Piranga
The closest relatives of the Scarlet Tanager that you can see in Tenorio Volcano National Park (genus Piranga, Piranga Tanagers) are Summer Tanager (about 30%) and Red Tanager (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scarlet Tanager is recorded against all the birds logged in Tenorio Volcano National Park (194 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.
