Habitat
Subtropical and tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical and tropical dry and moist shrubland. From sea-level - 1,000 m, occasionally up to 3,200 m.
Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) [XC169859]
by Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio de B. Vitto from Belo Oriente, Minas Gerais, Brazil (song)
Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) [XC800203]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Catura\u00ed-Goi\u00e1s Rio dos peixes, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
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 Blue-grey Tanager (Tangara episcopus) and Glaucous Tanager (Tangara glaucocolpa) and replaces former south of Amazonia. Sometimes considered conspecific with one or both of these. Reported vocal differences from Blue-grey Tanager (Tangara episcopus) require confirmation. Differs markedly from Glaucous Tanager (Tangara glaucocolpa) in plumage, voice and habitat. Subspecies boliviana could belong with Blue-grey Tanager (Tangara episcopus), with which it shares some plumage features (e.g. white on shoulder), but in several other ways is closer to present species. The extent, if any, to which this subspecies overlaps with Blue-grey Tanager (Tangara episcopus) in northern Bolivia requires investigation. Review of taxonomic status of both groups seems to be warranted.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
boliviana Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1941 - Northern Bolivia. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Turquoise Tanager (Tangara mexicana).
obscura Naumburg, 1924 - Central and southern Bolivia south to western Argentina (south to Tucumán, Córdoba and Santa Fe).
sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766) - Eastern and southern Brazil (Mato Grosso east to Maranhío and Ceará, south to Rio Grande do Sul), Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina (south to Buenos Aires) and Uruguay.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet