Scarlet Tanager

Melissa and I just got home from five nights of tent camping with our sons in Maryland. One of my favorite parts of sleeping in a tent is waking up surrounded by singing birds. Early morning is the most common time for most songbirds to sing, and we call that part of the day the “dawn chorus.” On this trip, one of the most persistent songsters was a Scarlet Tanager that I think may have been nesting right there in the campground.

Male Scarlet Tanagers are stunning, mostly covered with bright red feathers but with jet black wings. Females and young birds have mostly yellowish green feathers, with brighter yellow on the throat, and with darker (but not black) wings. The adult males are also yellowish green during the winter. In the photo, you can see that this male has already replaced a few of his red feathers with the yellowish green of his winter plumage.

Last week, I wrote about the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which has a song similar to that of a robin, but longer and sweeter. Scarlet Tanagers also sound a bit like a robin, but shorter with a rougher, raspier sound. The grosbeaks have the nickname “robin with voice lessons” while the tanager is called the “robin with a sore throat.” Even more noticeable than the Scarlet Tanager’s song is its distinctive call, an intense “CHICK-burr.” It’s important to learn the sounds of Scarlet Tanagers, because despite the male’s distinctive appearance, you rarely see them. They spend almost all of their time out of sight in the canopies of our forests.

You don’t have to travel far to see Scarlet Tanagers – they nest throughout the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, including here in the Susquehanna Valley. Look for them between late April and early October. In a few months they will migrate thousands of miles to spend the winter in northwestern South America.