The Guira Tanager is found in the Amazon and Orinoco Basins except in southern Venezuela, western Colombia and around the rio Negro. Its range extends south into northern Argentina and Paraguay and there are two disjunct populations in coastal Ecuador and in the valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena in Colombia.
The male is boldly patterned with a black mask and throat surrounded by bright yellow. The centre of the breast is bright orange, the belly is yellowish and the flanks are grey-green. Upperparts are olive green with an orange rump and the bill is pointed and yellow except on the culmen which is black.
It is usually found in pairs or small groups and often associates with mixed flocks. They are very active when foraging for insects on leaves and branches. Apart from insects and spiders they eat fruit and seeds.
Its nest is a flimsy cup made of fibres and lichens which is built at the tops of trees in the fork of a thin branch.
There are illustrations in Ridgely & Tudor, Volume 1, Plate 11; Hilty & Brown, Plate 53 and Ridgely & Greenfield, Plate 86.
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