| Scarlet Tanager | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Adult male
|
||||||||||||||
| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Piranga olivacea (Gmelin, 1789) |
The Scarlet Tanager, Piranga olivacea, is a medium-sized American songbird. Traditionally placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae) it is now thought to be much closer to cardinals (Cardinalidae). Adults have pale stout smooth bills. Adult males are bright red with black wings and tail; females are yellowish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail. The adult male's winter plumage is similar to the female's, but the wings and tail remain darker. Their breeding habitat is large forested areas, especially with oaks, across eastern North America. They build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch. These birds migrate to northwestern South America, passing through Central America around April, and again around October[1]. This tanager is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe. These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and fruit[2]. These birds do best in the forest interior, where they are less exposed to predators and nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird. Their numbers are declining in some areas due to forest fragmentation, but on a global scale they are a plentiful species.
Footnotes
- ^ Herrera et al. (2006)
- ^ E.g. of Gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba). Bursera simaruba (Moraceae), and especially of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae): Forster (2007).
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Piranga olivacea. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Foster, Mercedes S. (2007): The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico. Bird Conservation International 17(1): 45-61. doi:10.1017/S0959270906000554 PDF fulltext
- Herrera, Néstor; Rivera, Roberto; Ibarra Portillo, Ricardo & Rodríguez, Wilfredo (2006): Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador. ["New records for the avifauna of El Salvador"]. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16(2): 1-19. [Spanish with English abstract] PDF fulltext
External links
- Scarlet Tanager Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Scarlet Tanager Information - South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivaceaUSGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Summer Red Bird by John Audubon
- Stamps
- Scarlet Tanager videos on the Internet Bird Collection
