One of the most frequent visitors to our backyard is the Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca). Even though he is average sized for a Tanager at about 6½ inches, the Sayaca is aggressive and very often will literally push other birds away from the food with his chest. He will gulp down great chunks of banana or papaya and then fly off to either enjoy them himself or give them to a fledgling on a nearby branch.
The Sayaca will eat almost everything - probably a key to his great success - but he is particularly fond of bananas. His range covers most of Brazil south of the Amazon as well as Uruguay, Paraguay and northern Argentina. In the southeastern coastal strip of Brazil a closely related Tanager, the Azure-shouldered Tanager has an overlapping range but unfortunately does not reach our backyard. In the area where we live the Sayaca is sometimes considered a pest by the local fruit growers. Figs, grapes and guavas are intensively grown here and the Sayaca will at times attack a plantation in large flocks.
The individual pictured above is perched in a pitanga (Brazilian Cherry - Eugenia uniflora) tree outside our door. Note the relatively heavy black beak and the shading of the blue, going from a blue-gray on the back of his neck to an almost turquoise by the wing tips.
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