The Male Western Tanager

One of the many birds we saw this weekend at the Owyhee State Park which is in the south eastern part of Oregon.

A clear look at a male... more

by Robert Bales

Title

The Male Western Tanager

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

One of the many birds we saw this weekend at the Owyhee State Park which is in the south eastern part of Oregon.

A clear look at a male Western Tanager is like looking at a flame: an orange-red head, brilliant yellow body, and coal-black wings, back and tail. Females and immatures are a somewhat dimmer yellow-green and blackish. These birds live in open woods all over the West, particularly among evergreens, where they often stay hidden in the canopy. Nevertheless, they’re a quintessential woodland denizen in summertime, where they fill the woods with their short, burry song and low, chuckling call notes.
Western Tanagers forage slowly and methodically along branches and among leaves or needles of trees. They eat primarily insects, supplemented with small fruits in fall and winter. They sometimes catch insects in the air. In spring and summer , males sing their hoarse, American Robin-like song frequently.

Western Tanagers breed in coniferous forests, though they are not particularly choosy about which conifer species. They breed in juniper-pine mixtures at low elevation, up to spruce-fir near treeline. During migration, you may find them in nearly any shrubby or wooded habitats, and even in fairly open country. Their winter habitat in Middle America is generally in pine-oak woodland and forest edge.

From The Cornell Labs

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October 23rd, 2017