Western Tanager

Piranga ludovicianaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Tanagers (Thraupidae)

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Western Tanager

Western Tanager: Medium-sized tanager with brilliant red head, bright yellow body, black back, wings, and tail. Wings have two bars: upper bar is yellow, lower bar is white. Legs and feet are gray. Swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings. It was first recorded on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

● Song: "che-ree, che-ree, che-weeu, cheweeu", "pit-r-rick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Western Tanager: Eats insects and berries; forages in trees and shrubs, or catches insects in the air.

● Breeding & nesting: Western Tanager: Three to five brown marked, blue eggs are laid in a frail, shallow saucer nest woven from rootlets, weed stalks, and bark strips, and saddled on a horizontal branch of a Douglas fir, spruce, pine, or oak. Female incubates eggs for about 13 days.

● Similar species: Western Tanager: Flame-colored Tanager has dark bill, bolder white wing-bars, and darkly streaked back. Scarlet Tanager (female and juvenile) has olive-colored back and lacks wing-bars.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Western Tanager: Breeds from southern Alaska and Mackenzie southward and winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open coniferous forests.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Western Tanager

Western Tanager

Flight Pattern