Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Introduced to USA (E) (B).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 5,000,000 - 50,000,000 (2010).
Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) [XC371158]
by Albert Lastukhin from El Valle de Ant\u00f3n, Cocl\u00e9 Province, Panama (song)
Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) [XC259685]
by John V. Moore from Manab\u00ed: R\u00edo Ayampe, Ecuador (call, song, calls)
Subspecies
Formerly known as Thraupis virens, but present name (of same date) was formally awarded priority. Recent molecular-genetic data do not support monophyly of genus as currently constituted: six (including present species) of eight species sampled embedded with Tangara, a finding that makes genus Tangara paraphyletic. This species may form a superspecies with Sayaca Tanager (Tangara sayaca) and Glaucous Tanager (Tangara glaucocolpa) and replaced by Sayaca Tanager (Tangara sayaca) south of Amazonia. Sometimes considered conspecific with one or both of those, but believed to differ vocally from Sayaca Tanager (Tangara sayaca) and differs markedly from Glaucous Tanager (Tangara glaucocolpa) in plumage, voice and habitat The extent, if any, to which subspecies boliviana of Sayaca Tanager (Tangara sayaca) overlaps with present species, with which it shares some plumage features (e.g. white on shoulder), in northern Bolivia requires investigation. Some geographical variation within present species is significant, but several subspecies only slightly different and seem barely worthy of recognition. A review of the various subspecies seems warranted. Subspecies ehrenreichi long treated as synonymous with coelestis but now known to be quite distinct. Instead, mediana might prove to be a junior synonym of ehrenreichi
The following 14 subspecies are recognised:
cana (Swainson, 1834) - South-eastern Mexico (from extreme south-eastern San Luis Potosí) south through Central America, including Pearl Is (off southern Panama), to Colombia west of eastern Andes, Caribbean coast and northern Venezuela (east to Sucre and Monagas).
caesitia Wetmore, 1959 - I Escudo de Veraguas (Bocas del Toro), off north-western Panama.
cumatilis Wetmore, 1957 - Coiba I, off south-western Panama.
nesophila Riley, 1912 - Extreme north-eastern Colombia, southern and eastern Venezuela, and Trinidad.
berlepschi (Dalmas, 1900) - Tobago. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Beryl-spangled Tanager (Tangara nigroviridis).
quaesita Bangs & Noble, 1918 - South-western Colombia (western Nariño) southern on Pacific slope to north-western Peru.
leucoptera (Sclater, PL, 1886) - Eastern slope of Andes in Colombia (Cundinamarca and Meta).
mediana Zimmer, JT, 1944 - Eastern Colombia, extreme southern Venezuela (southern Amazonas, southern Bolívar) and northern Brazil (east to R Jamundá, and south of Amazon between R Madeira and Tapajós) south to northern Bolivia.
coelestis (von Spix, 1825) - South-eastern Colombia, western Brazil (east to R Negro and R Madeira) and north-eastern Ecuador south to central Peru.
ehrenreichi (Reichenow, 1915) - R Purús (north-western Brazil).
episcopus (Linnaeus, 1766) - The Guianas, and northern Brazil east of R Jamundá to north-western Maranhío, and south to south-eastern Pará and northern Mato Grosso.
caerulea Zimmer, JT, 1929 - South-eastern Ecuador and northern Peru (south to Huánuco).
major (von Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1896) - Chanchamayo Valley, in central Peru.
urubambae Zimmer, JT, 1944 - Urubamba Valley and Amazonian drainage, in south-eastern Peru. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Flame-faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet