Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family THRAUPIDAE

Menu

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

Despite its striking markings of red, yellow, and black, the slow-moving Western Tanager is a surprisingly inconspicuous bird of the western forests.

Cool Facts

• The Western Tanager breeds farther north than any other member of its mostly tropical family, breeding to nearly 60° N in the Northwest Territories.

• The red pigment in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds. It is not manufactured by the bird, as are the pigments used by the other red tanagers. Instead, it must be acquired from the diet, presumably from insects that themselves acquire the pigment from plants.

Description

• Size: 16-19 cm (6-7 in)
• Weight: 24-36 g (0.85-1.27 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Yellow with dark wings, tail and back.
• Two bright wingbars.

• Thick bill.
• Tail moderately long.
• Male distinctive with bright red head.

Sex Differences

Male with red head, bright yellow underparts, black back, wings and tail. Female without red, duller yellow, back and wings gray.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) plumage: Entire head red. Hindneck, rump, and underparts bright yellow. Two wingbars, upper bright yellow, lower whitish yellow. Back, wings, and tail black. Bill dull yellow. Legs and feet bluish gray. Eye dark.
Nonbreeding (Basic) plumage: Head yellowish without red or with only reddish wash. Duller yellow underparts, washed with olive green. Back feathers tipped with yellowish or olive.

Female

Olive green upperparts. Back and wings gray. Yellowish rump. Underparts variable from bright yellow to grayish white; palest on belly, brightest under tail. Two yellowish white wing bars. Tail grayish brown or olive.

Immature

Similar to female. Immature male brighter yellow.

Similar Species

• Occasionally female Scarlet Tanager may have wingbars, but it lacks the grayish back that contrasts with the rump and nape.

Sound

Song a series of short, burry syllables, reminiscent of a robin with a sore throat. Call a "pit-er-ick."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern Northwest Territories and southeastern Alaska southward through western states, and eastward to western Manitoba, Black Hills of South Dakota, and western Texas.

Winter Range

Winters from central Mexico through Costa Rica. Some individuals winter in southern California.

Habitat

• Breeds in open coniferous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests.
• Winters in open mountain pine woodlands, second growth, and parks and gardens.

Food

Mainly insects, also fruit.

Behavior

Foraging

Moves slowly and deliberately through foliage. Also flycatches. Comes to feeders for fruit.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a flimsy, shallow open cup of twigs, grasses, bark strips, and rootlets, lined with grass, hair, or fine plant fibers. Placed in trees on top of branch well out from trunk.

Egg Description

Bluish green spotted with brown.

Clutch Size

Usually 4 eggs. Range: 1-5.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with long down on head, back and wings.

Conservation Status

Not threatened or endangered.

Other Names

Tangara à tête rouge (French)
Tángara capucha roja (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Hudon, J. 1999. Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana). In The Birds of North America, No. 432 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.