Scarlet-throated Tanager

The scarlet-throated tanager is a large tanager that resembles a blackbird. It is 20 to 21 cm (7.9 to 8.3 in) long; one male weighed 72.5 g (2.6 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males are almost entirely glossy blue-black. Their throat and the center of their breast are scarlet and the bases of their back and flank feathers are white, though this color is not visible in the field. Adult females are entirely black. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a stout black bill, and dusky gray legs and feet.

The scarlet-throated tanager is found in eastern Brazil east of a line that roughly traces from the Atlantic in Maranhão south to eastern Tocantins, then west to far eastern Mato Grosso, south to west-central Goiás, southeast to north-central Minas Gerais, and northeast back to the Atlantic in northeastern Bahia. It is primarily a bird of the Caatinga, a somewhat dry and generally semi-open biome. Within it the species favors areas such as gallery forest and lands near marshes and lagoons. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 700 m (2,300 ft).

The scarlet-throated tanager's diet has not been studied but is known to be mostly insects. It typically forages in small flocks of six to eight individuals and sometimes associates with blackbirds. It is "rather slow-moving and sometimes unwary". It is sometimes observed perched on a high exposed branch for long periods.