- Piranga ludoviciana
Identification
17 cm (6.½ in)
Both sexes have a pointed, but fairly stout, pale bill
Breeding Male
- Bright red face
- Yellow neck, underparts, shoulder and rump
- Black back, wings, tail
- White lower wing bar, white to yellow upper wing bar
Adult Female:
- Yellow head and underparts
- Olive-grey back
- Grey wings with white lower and white or yellowish upper wing bar
- Underparts color variable yellow to whitish
Non-breeding and Immature: Similar to adult female
Distribution
Breeds from Alaska southward to just north of Mexico and eastward to Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico; winters in Central America (western Panama).
Rare vagrant to the east coast of North America north to the maritime provinces of Canada.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Open coniferous forests of douglas fir, spruce, and pine, mixed woodlands with aspen trees, oak-pinyon woodlands of higher mountains. Also found in lowlands during migration.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists almost entirely of insects (mostly wasps) and ants, with the addition of fruit, and some buds.
Vocalisation
Song is similar to American Robin in its short, fluty phrases rendered with a pause between phrases.
Call is A dry pit-r-ic
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Hilty, S. (2018). Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/61828 on 25 October 2018).
- Hudon, J. (1990). Unusual carotenoid use by the Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) and its evolutionary implications. Can. J. Zool. no. 69:2311-2320.
- Hudon, J. (1999). Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.432
- BirdForum Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Western Tanager. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Western_Tanager
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
