Blue-Gray Tanager

Thraupis episcopus

Also known as: Blue-Grey Tanager, Blue Saki, Blue Tanager, White-Edged Tanager

About This Species

A pale blue-grey songbird with a pale shoulder patch, common in gardens, parks and forest edges across its range, where it forages in pairs or small groups in the canopy and shrub layer for fruit and insects. It is active throughout the day and often visits fruit feeders or fruiting trees, making mid-morning a good time to watch it at close range in urban and suburban green spaces. Its soft, wheezy calls often reveal its presence before it is seen.

Ethical Viewing Guidelines

This is a confiding species that will often approach fruit feeders and gardens on its own, but observers should still avoid handling or crowding birds at feeding stations.
Wild birds and their nests are generally protected under local wildlife law, so nests in garden trees or shrubs should be left undisturbed.
Offering fruit at a feeder is a gentler way to view the species closely than approaching a bird directly in the canopy.

LCAvesPasseriformesThraupidae

Seasonal Activity

1,421,896 sightings · 2000–2026

Citizen science records via GBIF

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Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae

Photo

CC-BY-NC-4.0

Occurrence data from GBIF.