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Identify bird (1 Viewer)

daltonjj

daltonjj

Active member
I posted the following in the bird forum and received 2 replies. As I explored this site, it seemed that I should have posted my question here. Therefore, I have re-entered it below, along with 2 pictures. Thanks for your help.


Today we saw what we think is a Male (immature) Summer Tanager at our grape jelly feeder, though our birding book shows Wisconsin to be too far north for this bird. I will try to attach a picture for help from any of you to identify this bird. Thanks.
 

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You're right, immature male Summer Tanager. While there are spotty reports of it in several of the northern US states, it has also been reported up into Canada as well. Nice bird and nice photos!
 
Katy Penland said:
You're right, immature male Summer Tanager. While there are spotty reports of it in several of the northern US states, it has also been reported up into Canada as well. Nice bird and nice photos!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help in confirming the ID. :clap:
 
My husband has gotten to see two scarlet tangers without even having to look for them. I am still trying to find them. We have both summer and scarlet here in West Va...... i'm jealous. LOL... You have seen one.. and they are not even common there..
 
baccalynnwv said:
My husband has gotten to see two scarlet tangers without even having to look for them. I am still trying to find them. We have both summer and scarlet here in West Va...... i'm jealous. LOL... You have seen one.. and they are not even common there..
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The last few years we have been feeding grape jelly, which seems to be a great attraction for several birds. We now have many pairs of Northern Orioles, Catbirds, an occasional Indigo Bunting, and this week the Summer Tanager... all trying to be 1st in line at the grape jelly feeder. You might try this method of feeding... but be prepared to buy the jelly by the case as they really go through it!!
We also feed suet and various seeds and have a wide varity of birds in the yard all the time... great fun!!
 
The Range of the Summer Tanager seems to have extended further north..... That seems to be a different bird then the one seen earlier that week in Point Pelee, Ontario. Funny enough another bird showed up on Saturday this time an adult male.
 
The farthest north the Summer Tanager breeds annually is Oak Opening Metropark, near Toledo, Ohio, I believe. However, MANY males stray north each spring - and Point Pelee is one of the best spots.
 
Very nice pictures!!! That sighting is one for the books, glad you got two good shots of it.
Tell me about your jelly feeding apparatus it looks like it is hanging....from what? .... I, too, go through cases of the smuckers!
shelley
 
shelley810 said:
Very nice pictures!!! That sighting is one for the books, glad you got two good shots of it.
Tell me about your jelly feeding apparatus it looks like it is hanging....from what? .... I, too, go through cases of the smuckers!
shelley
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We were very pleased to be able to have this visitor, especially since Wisc. is out of their range. The feeder is a platform with a hole cut to fit the bottom of a yogert cup, a vertical board with an arch cut to span the cup and support a roof which helps keep rain out of the cup of jelly ... all of cedar. On one side I have perch and above that, a long screw onto which I fasten a half orange. I hang the feeder from a tall, garden "shepherd" hook. I will attempt to attach a picture.
 

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daltonjj said:
We were very pleased to be able to have this visitor, especially since Wisc. is out of their range.
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Don't know if you realize it, but this is a different bird, a Baltimore Oriole, which breeds in WI. :t: Could possibly be an Orchard Oriole, but the color looks a bit too orange for Orchard. Another nice shot in any case! The Bullock's Orioles I get in the yard are way too skittish to let me get anything but a token grab shot when they're on our hummingbird feeders. ;)
 
Katy Penland said:
Don't know if you realize it, but this is a different bird, a Baltimore Oriole, which breeds in WI. :t: Could possibly be an Orchard Oriole, but the color looks a bit too orange for Orchard. Another nice shot in any case! The Bullock's Orioles I get in the yard are way too skittish to let me get anything but a token grab shot when they're on our hummingbird feeders. ;)
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Yes Katy, I knew this was an Oriole, but I was sending a better shot of the feeder that Shelley had asked about. BTW, someone said that the new name for the Baltimore Oriole is Northern Oriole ... is that correct??
 
Apologies, JJ, didn't mean to presume you didn't know the bird! :t:

This one species has been renamed several times by the AOU (American Ornithological Union), and it's flipped-flopped back and forth between Northern and Baltimore. I don't have the most recent Eastern North America bird guides so don't know which is the current fad, for lack of a better word. It is, however, the same species. I'm still getting used to calling the formerly Rufous-sided Towhee the Spotted Towhee. ;)
 
I think the "Northern" Oriole was the old lumped Baltimore/Bullock's Oriole, which have now been split again (circa late '90s I think). From what I understand the Bullock's and Baltimore are now not even considered each other's nearest relative, and the AOU separates the two taxonomically with 5 species sandwiched inbetween.
 
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