Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager, male

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Summer Tanager, female

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The only entirely red bird in North America, the Summer Tanager is a bird of southern forests. It specializes in eating bees and wasps, both in the summer and on its wintering grounds in Central and South America.

Description

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Male entirely red; female dull yellow.

• Size: 17 cm (7 in)
• Weight: 30 g (1.06 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male bright red, female greenish yellow.

Sound

Song a series of slurred, whistled notes interspersed with short pauses. Usually contains one set that can be interpreted as "peanut-butter." Call a harsh, clicking "pit-i-tuck."

Conservation Status

Considered a Species of Special Concern in California. Most populations stable.

Other Names

Tangara vermillon (French)
Cardenal veranero, Cardenal rojo, Tángara de Paso, Tángara rojo, Tángara veranera, Candelo unicolor (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Summer Tanager is considered a bee and wasp specialist. It usually catches a bee in flight and then kills it by beating it against a branch. Before eating the bee, the tanager removes the stinger by rubbing it on a branch. The tanager eats bee and wasp larvae too. It first catches the adult insects and then perches near the nest to tear it open and get the grubs.

• Like most birds that migrate long distances, the Summer Tanager puts on large amounts of fat to fuel the long flight. Tanagers arriving in Panama had enough fat to fly an estimated additional 890 km (553 mi).

• Where Summer and Scarlet tanagers occur together, the Summer Tanager prefers to breed in shorter and more open woodlands. In the West, the Summer Tanager breeds in lowlands along streams while the Western and Hepatic tanagers use coniferous forests at higher elevations.

Sources used to construct this page:

Robinson, W. D. 1996. Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra). In The Birds of North America, No. 248 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.