Cherrie’s Tanager

(Ramphocelus costaricensis)

It wasn’t named the Cherrie’s Tanager because of the brilliant cherry red color of its rump. It was actually named in honor of the American naturalist George Kruck Cherrie who accompanied President Theodore Roosevelt to the Brazilian Amazon in 1913!

We spotted this beautiful Cherrie’s Tanager early one morning while standing on the front deck at Luna Lodge, a beautiful ecolodge tucked in the jungle of Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula.

The shocking red and black color is only found on the males. Females are a drab olive with an orange-ish rump and band across the chest.

The species can only be found on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica and western Panama. It was formerly known as the Scarlet-rumped Tanager and grouped together with the Passerini’s Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii), but the Passereini’s has a much wider distribution. And though the males of the two species look very similar, the females are quite different!

(Check out Cristina’s recent article about Our Favorite Ecolodges on the Osa Peninsula!)