Scarlet-rumped Tanager

The scarlet-rumped tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii) is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowlands from southern Mexico to western Panama. This species was formerly known as the scarlet-rumped tanager, but was renamed to Passerini´s Tanager after Carlo Passerini, a professor at the Museum of Zoology of the University of Florence, when the distinctive form found on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama was reclassified as a separate species, the Cherrie´s tanager, Ramphocelus costaricensis. While most authorities had accepted this split, there were notable exceptions (e.g. the Howard and Moore checklist). It was renamed back to the scarlet-rumped tanager in 2018 when Cherrie´s Tanager was lumped back into the species.

 The adult Scarlet-rumped tanager is 16 cm long and weighs 31 g. The adult male is mainly black except for a scarlet rump, silvery bill and dark red iris. The female has a grey head, olive upperparts becoming brighter and paler on the rump, brownish wings and tail and ochre underparts. The female´s plumage is the one that differs most from Cherrie´s tanager. Immatures have an orange tint to the underparts and rump, and look like a paler and duller female Cherrie´s tanager.

The Passerini´s tanager´s call is a sharp wac. Its song consists of a few clear pleasant notes, delivered in shorter phrases than that of its Pacific relative.

Ecology: It is very common from sea level to 1200 m altitude, and occurs occasionally up to 1700 m. The preferred habitat is semi-open areas including light second growth, woodland edges, gardens and pasture with bushes.

Passerini´s tanagers occur in pairs, small groups, or as part of a mixed-species feeding flock, and up to a dozen birds may roost together in dense thickets at night. This species feeds on certain small fruit, usually swallowed whole, insects and spiders.

The cup nest is built up to 6 m high in a tree. The normal clutch is two pale blue or grey eggs, marked with black, brown or lilac. This species will sometimes raise two broods in a season