The Silver-beaked tanager is a member of a
typical American family of birds (the Tanagers) with many
brightly colored birds. The male of this tanager has a beautifull
deep red color (maroon-crimson) and a silver-colored beak (first
photo), the female is less conspiciously red as in the second
one. They often fly around in groups of six to ten birds, making
a lot of noise, calling their
Surinamese name 'kin', pronounced as 'tjeeng'. All day they are
searching for fruit and insects in the bushes. Their nest has the
form of a cup, has often 2 to 3 eggs and can be found in the same
bushes. After about twelve days the young hatch and after again
twelve days they can fly. The silver-beaked tanager has no
specific breeding season in Suriname. All year long nests can be
found, more of them in the rainy season. Except calling, they can also sing nicely,
this they do often early in the morning.
The first two pictures (male and female) were made by Louis des
Tombe in October 2007, below is a photo of two young males, one
changing from juvenile to adult, made by Leo Olmtak (November
2008) and then follows a male from Candy McManiman made in
Suriname in 2005. A beautiful picture of the three most common
birds in Suriname, Silver-beaked and Blue-gray Tanager and Great
Kiskadee, eating in the garden, comes from Leo Olmtak in
Paramaribo.
The silver-beaked tanager is the most common bird in Suriname, it is the one most reported the last 60 years.
Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations on different days and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest. It is often found in groups.
| Distribution in Suriname (explanation) | |
| Coastal area |  |
| Savanna | |
| Forests | |
| Mountain forests |  |
| Sipalawini savanna | |
Names in
More pictures of Surinamese birds of the Tanager family
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