Cabinet of Curiosities

Our technical understanding of Tanagers is, frankly, messy. These vibrant birds delight birders and taunt the taxonomists. Their great diversity in behavior, appearance, and genetics challenge Western scientific systems, which try to organize living organisms within tidy, hierarchical boxes. Tanagers, it turns out, are remarkably resistant to being boxed in. Taxonomy is regularly rewritten as we discover more through improved genetic tools and continued observation. Birds who look like Tanagers - small to medium-sized, often colorful, and often fruit-eating songbirds of the Neotropics - were groups together. After all, taxonomy is yet very dependent on visible characteristics, or morphology. Today, geneticists are discovering that many of these birds are not as closely related as once understood. Some "tanagers" were rehomed into entirely different families, while others were suddenly welcomed into the tanager fold. I know dance too well as I study fungi, who are notoriously ...