Golden-hooded Tanager

The Golden-hooded Tanager is a small, boldly patterned tanager whose combination of colors makes it instantly recognizable. The crown glows golden-yellow, framed by a black mask through the eye and a black throat patch, while the body is a bright, pale turquoise crossed by a broad dark blue-black band across the upper back and wings.

The underparts are pale turquoise to whitish, and small white patches often show on the wing, adding further contrast to an already striking pattern. Sexes look alike, making this one of the more straightforward tanagers to sex-identify in the field, or rather, one where sexing is not needed.

Common and conspicuous, it is frequently seen in gardens, forest edges, and second growth, often in pairs or small groups foraging actively for fruit and insects.

Key field marks

• Golden-yellow crown
• Black facial mask and black throat patch
• Broad blue-black band across the back and wings
• Pale turquoise underparts and rump
• White patches sometimes visible on the wing

Similar species

Spangle-cheeked Tanager and Silver-throated Tanager occur in overlapping habitat but lack the Golden-hooded Tanager's distinctive golden crown and black-banded back; its pattern is unique enough within range to make confusion unlikely.

Habitat

The Golden-hooded Tanager favors forest edge, clearings, secondary growth, plantations, and gardens with fruiting trees and shrubs, generally avoiding deep unbroken forest interior.

Range

It ranges from Honduras and Nicaragua through Costa Rica and Panama into Colombia and western Ecuador, occupying lowland and foothill regions on both slopes in Central America.

Migration

It is a non-migratory resident throughout its range.

Behavior

This tanager is active and conspicuous, typically foraging in pairs or small groups and frequently joining mixed-species flocks moving through forest edge and garden vegetation.

Voice

Its calls are thin, high, buzzy 'tsee' or 'sip' notes, given while foraging or in flight, unremarkable relative to its bright appearance.

Feeding

It feeds on small fruits and berries as well as insects, gleaned from foliage in the canopy and mid-story, and readily visits fruiting trees in gardens and plantations.

Nesting and breeding

The female builds a small open cup nest hidden in dense foliage, often in a tree or shrub near forest edge, and incubates the eggs while both parents feed the young.