Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
Male Summer Tanager Pico Bonito, Honduras, March 2015 - click on image for a larger view Honduras and Cuba

The Summer Tanager breeds in central and southern USA and winters from Mexico through Central America, the West Indies and into South America as far as Peru and Brazil. See the distribution map at xeno-canto. It is found in woodland, gardens and forest borders.

The male, seen here in photo 1 taken in Honduras, is red with dusky wings and tail and paler on the underparts. It keeps this plumage all year.

Summer Tanager, San Isisdro, Napo, Ecuador, November 2019 - click on image for a larger view Photo 2 shows an immature male in November in Ecuador. These show a rather patchy amount of red. Birds are seen in their winter quarters between October and April.
Female Summer Tanager Pálpite, Zapata Swamp, Cuba, February 2005 - click on image for a larger view The female, photo 3 taken at the Zapata Swamp in Cuba, is yellow-olive above and a deeper yellow below with duskier wings and tail. Immatures resemble females while young males gradually acquire the full adult plumage over the course of 2 years.

I had some uncertainty about the identification of this bird and asked Birdforum for help. You will find their deliberations at http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=32371.

This bird was calling quite persistently and you will find its call here.

Another recording from xeno-canto:

Previous Page Back to Index Next Page

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.
Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites

Valid HTML 4.0 Transitional