Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum

Tangara chilensis

Who doesn’t love tanagers?!  If I wasn’t so fond of the cold weather I would probably have to move somewhere tropical, if only for the great bird watching opportunities.  Then I remember I don’t need to move anywhere to see tropical birds because we have them in the Zoological Museum!  So I can spend any number of chilly winter days being impossibly close to something that can only feasibly live worlds away from all of our current snow, fog, and ice.  

When my friend Louis was visiting the collections we made a point to go through nearly all of the avian specimen drawers, and these tropical tanagers were most unforgettable.  I had seen pictures of the Paradise Tanagers (Tangara chilensis) in the past, but there’s nothing like seeing the iridescence of those feathers gleaming from the depths of a dark cabinet drawer in person.  Many of the tropical and exotic birds in our collection were donated by a former staff member who went on to work for the L.A. Zoo in the 1960’s, and would send the museum individuals that died over the years.  I know this person only as F. Todd, but it is remarkable the amount of things he contributed to our collections over the years; everything from these beautiful tanagers, to marsupials — both of which are hard to come across in Montana, so my deepest gratitude goes out to this mystery person who has so deeply enriched my life!