A very handsome bird with a green with a blue crown and throat along with red cheeks and red nape.

Meet the Red-necked Tanager

“Saíra militar – Tangara cyanocephala” by luizmrocha is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Red-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanocephala) is a species of bird in the Thraupidae family. The male is easy to identify in the adult form by his red neck. He also has a blue cap, a green body, with some yellow on his wing and black on his back, face, and also around his bill.

“File:Tangara cyanocephala – Red-necked Tanager (male); Bertioga, São Paulo, Brazil.jpg” by Hector Bottai is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The female tends to have less yellow on the wing, less black on the back, and more orange, rather than red on the neck.

Juveniles tend to be green-flecked with orange on the cheeks and blue on the cap.

Photo Courtesy of Dario Sanches / CC BY-SA 2.0

These birds are found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

Red-necked tanagers’ natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forests.

An omnivorous bird, the Red-necked tanager eats both fruit and insects.

During the breeding season, the nest tends to be made out of grass and placed around 1.8 m above ground level. The eggs, which are cream-colored with brown spots, are incubated for 12-13 days by the female.

The Red-necked Tanager is classified as Least Concern on the ICUN red list.

“File:Tangara cyanocephala -Morretes, Parana, Brazil-8.jpg” by Ben Tavener from Curitiba, Brazil is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

You can watch this bird right here in the video below: