Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds.  Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.

Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Tanager

Usually heard before it reveals itself, the Puerto Rican Tanager or “Llorosa”, as it’s known locally, will alert all forest critters with an array of chewp or chuck calls or a longer chi-chi-chit. These small birds prefer to stay hidden in dense vegetation, often in small flocks of four to six individuals. Every now and then, one or more will hop on an exposed branch showing their somewhat somber plumage that is perfectly camouflaged for their gloomy habitat. The dusky gray-brown upper parts hide them from raptors flying above. The faintly striked whitish underparts make them hard to see against the background of the sky for predators looking up from below. The crown and face is dark, contrasting well with the all-white throat. A small white spot in the wings of adults sets this bird apart from other “little brown birds”. 

Puerto Rican Tanagers used to be placed in the tanager family, giving them their name. But actually it belongs to its own family, “Nesospingidae”, of which it is the only member! Their closest relatives are the Spindalis, the Palm-tanager, Green-tailed Warbler, and White-winged Warbler. 

Foraging groups sound as if they are in a feisty disagreement or upset. This gives them their Spanish name “Llorosa” (which means “tearful”).  As they forage for small insects, spiders, snails, tiny vertebrates, fruits, and seeds, other bird species join them through the forest. Such gatherings are known as mixed-species flocks and attract warblers, flycatchers and other small birds that find safety in numbers.

During the breeding season, males sing a light “tsweet-tsweet-tsweet-tsweet” song. Singing males and their female mates will defend a small territory where they build a small cup-shaped nest made of plant material and lined with feathers and other soft fibers, usually at the ends of branches at heights between 2-10 meters. Females lay 2-3 eggs, white with reddish-brown blotches. Chicks are born naked after an incubation period of a couple of weeks. The young leave the nest after 2-3 weeks, but remain with the adults for several months. 

The Puerto Rican Tanager is endemic to Puerto Rico. It is  restricted to mountain forests 300 meters above sea level. It is believed that they ranged across the mountainous center, the Cotdillera Central, the Sierra de Luquillo, and the Sierra de Cayey.  Most birds are found in subtropical wet and rain forests, and subtropical lower montane forests. The loss of 85% of the island’s forests during the early 1900s affected the Puerto Rican Tanager by fragmenting the population and reducing their range to the Maricao forest in the west, Toro Negro forest and the protected peaks of El Yunque National Forest and the Carite State Forest. Regeneration of forest in the past 20 years has seen a constant expansion into subtropical moist forest at lower elevations. It is considered as Vulnerable due to its limited distribution. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.

Thanks to Jose Salguero-Faría for the text! 

Colour in the Puerto Rican Tanager

Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest

Listen to the call of Puerto Rican Tanager

The call of the Puerto Rican Tanager is a harsh “chuck” or “chewp” often given in a chattering series of calls.

Puzzle of the Day

Click on the image below to do the puzzle.  You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8,  or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!

 

Activity of the Day

FOR KIDS:  Let’s celebrate dads AND endemic birds! Father’s Day is this weekend on June 18th and we’ve got you covered. We have an endemic bird-themed Father’s Day Cards to download and color! This is a fun activity for people of all ages to celebrate the father figure in their life.  With a cute bird-themed picture for you to customise, our card also features a beautiful drawing of today’s endemic bird – the Puerto Rican Tanager – along with some interesting facts!

Please download and print our card template (letter size will work best but A4 will be ok too). It’s best to use card stock, but regular printer paper will do just fine. Once printed, fold in half horizontally (so the short sides touch) and write your own special message on the inside! Don’t forget to colour in the pictures on the front and on the back. Or if you are feeling really creative be inspired by one our featured birds and draw your own greeting card! You could use this blank template.

FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Puerto Rican Tanager foraging in the wild!

The T-shirt designed for the 2022 Joint BirdsCaribbean AOS meeting was beautiful! It featured the endemic birds of Puerto Rico, the location for the meeting, including today’s Endemic Bird of the Day!  The idea to create this T-shirt was conceptualized by Gabriel Lugo, past president of the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (SOPI) and Tour Guide for Wildside Nature Tours. In partnership with renowned Cuban artist and friend of BirdsCaribbean, Arnaldo Toledo, the pair created this timeless piece that will undoubtedly be a source of pride for all Puerto Ricans and friends of Puerto Rico. Read more about the process of designing the T-shirt here: