Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family THRAUPIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A striking black-winged red bird, the Scarlet Tanager is a common species of the eastern forest interior. Despite its brilliant coloring it is often overlooked because of its rather secretive behavior and its preference for the forest canopy.

Cool Facts

• On the wintering grounds in South America the Scarlet Tanager joins mixed species foraging flocks with flycatchers, antbirds, woodcreepers, and resident tropical tanagers.

• The female Scarlet Tanager sings a song similar to the male's, but softer, shorter, and less harsh. She sings in answer to the male's song and while she is gathering nesting material.

• The response of the Scarlet Tanager to habitat fragmentation varies from place to place. In the heart of its range in the Northeast, it can be found in small forest patches. In the Midwest, similar sized forest patches would have no tanagers. These conclusions are based on Project Tanager at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; more information can be found here and here.

Description

• Size: 16-17 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 25-29 cm (10-11 in)
• Weight: 23-38 g (0.81-1.34 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Male distinctive: bright red bird with black wings and tail.

• Bill thick but pointed.
• Eyes black.
• Tail of medium length, square or slightly notched.
• Legs dark.

Sex Differences

Breeding male bright scarlet with black wings and tail. Female and nonbreeding male olive-green with black wings and tail.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) plumage: Bright red all over; variable in hue and can be somewhat orange. Black tail and wings. Whitish bill. Dark eye. Gray legs.
Nonbreeding (Basic) plumage: Bright olive-green body. Black wings and tail. During molts in spring and fall, shows mixed red and olive green in body feathers.

Female

Olive green to yellow body, brightest on throat, rump and undertail. Brownish olive wings and tail edged green.

Immature

Immature resembles adult female. First spring male with lighter red or orange body.

Similar Species

• Summer Tanager male all dull red, including wings and tail. Female Summer Tanager more mustard yellow to orange-brown, with wings only dusky, not dark; bill larger.
• Western Tanager female has wing bars and dark back.

Sound

Song a series of short, burry syllables, reminiscent of a robin with a sore throat. Call a springy "chik-burr."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern Canada, Manitoba to Nova Scotia, southward to Arkansas and northern Georgia.

Winter Range

Winters from Panama southward to northern and western South America.

Habitat

• Breeds in deciduous and mixed deciduous/coniferous woodlands, especially mature forests.
• Occasionally in suburban areas with large trees.
• Winters in montane evergreen forests.

Food

Insects and spiders, some earthworms, buds, and fruits.

Behavior

Foraging

Captures insects by gleaning and grabbing them while hovering; will hawk flying insects. Beats prey against branch to kill it.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a flimsy, shallow open cup of twigs, grasses, bark strips, and rootlets, lined with grass or fine plant fibers. Placed in trees among a cluster of leaves.

Nest Description

In a deciduous tree, occasionally conifer, 6 - 9 m (20 - 30 ft) above ground (1.8 - 23 m ; 6 - 75 ft possible). The nest is placed on a horizontal limb, well out from the trunk usually more than half of the branch's length. The nest is usually built at the junction of two or more smaller branches with the main horizontal branch. Almost all Scarlet Tanager nests have four characteristics in common: nests are placed (1) in a leaf cluster, or at least with several leaves shading the nest, (2) on a nearly horizontal branch, (3) with a clear, unobstructed view to the ground below, (4) with clear open flyways from adjacent trees to the nest.

Egg Description

Color: Greenish blue to light blue, finely speckled with reddish.

Size: 19.8-26.9 mm x 15.2-17.8 mm
(0.8-1.1 in x 0.6-0.7 in)

Incubation period: 13-14 days.

Clutch Size

Usually 4 eggs. Range: 1-6.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with small tufts of down on head and back.
Chicks fledge in 9-11 days.

Conservation Status

Sensitive to forest fragmentation in parts of its range.

Other Names

Tangara écarlate (French)
Tángara escarlata (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Mowbray, T. 1999. Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea). In The Birds of North America, No. 479 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.