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| LGCF Birds & Butterflies |
SUMMER TANAGER
Article by Eleanor Talley, LGCF Bird Chairman
Photos by Beth Erwin, LGCF Wildflower Chairman
(2007)
Click photo for larger image
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The Cardinal stays with us all year and the Summer Tanager is a neotropical, that is, it migrates south in the fall and returns in the spring from some tropical area. The adult male is rosy red all year. First spring males are patchy “green” and red and full adult plumage is acquired by the second fall. Most females vary from mustard to gold below with darker tinges above. The female is easily confused with the Scarlet Tanager female. The Summer Tanager female lacks the olive tones of the Scarlet Tanager female and in addition the bill of the Summer Tanager, both male and female, is larger. The Scarlet Tanager is easily identified by its black wings and tail and a red body. Scarlet Tanagers migrate through the state of Louisiana, but do not nest here. Once the sounds of the Tanager are identified, they are easier to locate. Their call has been dubbed by some as a “pih-tucking,” and is very distinctive to the Summer Tanager. They prefer the concealing foliage of woodland trees. The summer range of the Summer Tanager is from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast in the lower south. It is regularly seen in southern California in the winter. This Tanager likes bees and wasps and grubs in nests of wasps. Their diet also includes a number of other insects and small fruits. They build their nests ten to thirty-five feet above the ground and are loosely built shallow cups of weed stems, leaves, bark, grasses, lined with fine grass. |