About Thraupis sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766)
The sayaca tanager, scientifically Thraupis sayaca, is a species of tanager belonging to the family Thraupidae. It is a common resident bird found in northeastern, central, and southeastern Brazil (where it is called sanhaço or sanhaçu in Portuguese), as well as in Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina (where it is known as celestinos or celestinas). A small number of individuals have been recorded in far southeastern Peru, but the species' established status there is unclear. This uncertainty comes in part from the potential to confuse sayaca tanagers with the very similar juvenile blue-grey tanagers. The sayaca tanager lives across a wide range of open to semiopen habitats, and generally avoids the interior of dense forests such as the Amazon. This tanager will visit farmland to forage in orchards, and adapts easily to urban environments as long as some tree cover and a supply of fruits are available. It feeds on flowers, buds, and insects; this omnivorous diet has helped it become one of, if not the most common urban bird in southeastern Brazil, alongside the rufous-bellied thrush.
