A widespread bird in South America, the burnished-buff tanager (Stilpnia cayana) is a member of the Thraupidae family. It is also called the rufous-crowned tanager.
The burnished-buff tanager is a multi-subspecies bird that mostly belongs to one of two groups: the cayana group, which includes the northern and western subspecies, and the flava group, which includes the southern and eastern subspecies (with the Marajó Island subspecies huberi serving as an intermediary).
It is a common sight, often seen alone or in couples. Like many tanagers, this one is mostly a fruit eater, with a soft spot for Cecropia and Brazilian pepper fruits, as well as those of invasive Magnoliaceae like Michelia champaca.
Using the binomial nаme Tanagra cayana, the burnished-buff tanager was formally described in 1766 in the 12th edition of the Systema Naturae by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus.the third Cayenne, in French Guiana, is the type locality, and the specific epithet is its Latin form. It was previously thought that the burnished-buff tanager belonged to the genus Tangara. The 2016 introduction of the genus Stilpnia was the catalyst for its relocation.