Tanagers and allies | Thraupidae

Tangaren | Tángaras

Worldwide this is a very species-rich family of the tropics; in this region it is thinly represented, mainly on the Pacific islands, where the birds were released and have settled in gardens, parks and villages, and beyond that by a few birds that reach the extreme southern edge of the mainland. Bill shape varies widely with the food: short and conical in the seed-eaters, which bend grass stems down to bring the heads within reach, and thin and curved in the nectar-drinkers, which lap nectar with a tongue frayed at the tip and will also pierce the base of a flower to get at it without pollinating it. Fruit is crushed against a branch, the pulp swallowed and the seeds dropped elsewhere. The nest is a small, tightly woven cup in a fork; in part of the family it is a closed ball with a side entrance that also serves as a roost outside the breeding season. For such brightly coloured birds the song is often thin, wiry and barely musical, and pairs stay together all year.