Flame-colored Tanager

The flame-colored tanager (Piranga bidentata), formerly known as the stripe-backed tanager, is a medium-sized American songbird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found from Mexico throughout Central America to northern Panama and occasionally in the United States; four subspecies are recognized. The flame-colored tanager is 18 to 19 cm long, the male having predominantly red-orange while the female is more yellowish orange. The nominate male's head and underparts are red-orange becoming yellower towards the vent area. It has a brown patch below the eye from the bill to behind the eye. The mantle and back are dusky orange with an olive tint; the rump is paler with little or no streaking. The female has a similar pattern but its head and underparts are yellow and the back is olive with black streaks. The male P. b. flammea is a paler red-orange than the nominate. P. b. sanguinolenta is also similar to the nominate but the head and underparts are bright red to orange-red. P. b. citrea is paler and more orange below compared to the nominate.