The Story
This Saffron-crowned Tanager (Tangara xanthocephala) balanced on a slender branch under the forest canopy at La Minga Ecolodge in Dapa, near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Her golden crown and turquoise chest stand out against the softly blurred foliage, and she gave an inquisitive look. The species lives in the cloud forests of the northern Andes, from Venezuela to Bolivia, especially where trees are mossy. It is the most fruit-eating of the Tangara tanagers, though it also takes insects, and it forages in small groups within mixed-species flocks. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800, −0.5 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18, where La Minga sits, is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Saffron-crowned Tanager (Tangara xanthocephala) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
