Tanagers were the most widely photographed species for me in Costa Rica, oops there were more Hummingbirds, but that is just a tease for future posts. There were a lot of newly fledged birds and so I was able to photograph a lot of feeding behavior and that made for some extra special photography.

The tanager species in the tropics are not the same as the Scarlet Tanagers in North America. The molecular level bird ID says that our tanagers are actually cardinals.. I’ve kept mine in the same galleries at least until the bird nerds change the common names. You can see the images and order prints…HERE.

Costa Rica boasts 36 species of tanagers and that is just the ones with tanager in the name. I only managed to photograph 4, so clearly another trip is in order. They have some unique species too, Plain-colored, Spangle-cheeked, Cherrie’s, White-throated Shrike, Sulphur-rumped, Black and Yellow, Black and Gold, Sooty-capped and the Black-cheeked Ant Tanager are all endemic to Costa Rica.