Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

The crimson-collared tanager’s bold and velvety plumage make it a perfect sports mascot candidate. Somewhere in Central America, there must be a soccer club named for this striking bird. Until relatively recently, even its scientific binomial suggested extreme competitive intensity; Phlogothraupis sanguinolenta translates as “the flaming, bloodied small bird” – that’s some fighting spirit! But does that reflect the bird’s actual behavior? Despite the tanager’s conspicuous coloration, it hasn’t been extensively studied and relatively little is known about the species other than its range and habitat preference. I was unable to learn much even about its nesting habits.

Apparently, its taxonomic assignment isn’t settled, either; genetic work in the late 1990s revealed the crimson-collared tanager has no close relatives in its currently-assigned genus, Ramphocelus, and some ornithologists believe it should be returned to its former, standalone genus, Phlogothraupis. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to meet the crimson-collared tanager during upcoming travels, and perhaps learn a bit more about the bird than I could via online research.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.