Tanagers & Allies

One of two great assemblages of passerines found in the Neotropics, the tanagers have diversified the most from those that long-ago colonized the region from the north. With some of the most stunning and idiosyncratic combinations of colors and patterns found in any birds, their morphological variation is just as remarkable—from the distinctively hooked bills of the flowerpiercers all the way to the deep seed-cracking bills of Darwin’s Finches. Most eat diets that include seeds or fruit and insects. Monogamous mating systems are surprisingly predominant in this diverse and brightly adorned group. It is thus surprising that, as in cardinalids, the route to spectacular diversity of plumages appears not to have been through the simple action of sexual selection.