Cardinals and allies | Cardinalidae

Kardinaalachtigen | Cardenales | Cardinals and allies

An exclusively American family of medium-sized songbirds. In many genera the bill is heavy, short and conical, with a curved upper edge and a broad base, built to crack hard seeds and stones; the tanagers of the genus Piranga, the ant-tanagers (Habia) and related genera have a slimmer bill and eat more insects and fruit. In the Andes and along the west coast the family numbers 29 species in twelve genera. The difference between the sexes is striking: in many species the male wears a single saturated colour over almost the whole body, red or deep blue, while the female is warm brown to olive green. Many species are resident, such as Golden Grosbeak of dry Andean valleys and the coast, the ant-tanagers of Chocó and Amazonian forest and Blue-black Grosbeak, but during the northern winter migrants arrive from North America, such as Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Summer Tanager and Scarlet Tanager. In Scarlet Tanager the male moults into a green plumage outside the breeding season, so that wintering birds often have to be judged on bill shape and wing pattern. They live in scrub, forest edge and forest, from the lowlands up into cloud forest, often sing from a high perch and build an open nest in a bush or tree.