Costa Rica Photo Gallery

Birds and Wildlife at Rancho Naturalista

January 2009 -- Digiscoped images by Joseph Morlan

Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus cana)
26 January 2009, Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica This is a very common bird throughout the tropics from Mexico to Brazil. It prefers open country and has benefited from deforestation and slash & burn agriculture. Males and females are similar, but females are usually slightly grayer. This individual is probably a male. This species was introduced to Southern Florida but after many years it ultimately failed to become established and disappeared. Clements 6th recognizes 13 subspecies. T. e. cana is found in Middle America while the others are in South America and nearby islands. It averages brighter blue cf. to other races especially on the wing coverts. This is usually a treetop bird which favors tall fig (ficus) trees. Panasonic Lumix LZ5 / Nikon FieldScope 3 / 30X WA hand-held (no adapter)
Joseph Morlan