Bright red bird with black wings

Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea

Scarlet Tanager Male

Description: Breeding male is bright red with black wings and tail and a pale bill. Fall male is patchy red and olive green with black wings. The female is olive green with brownish olive wings and tail edged in green.

General: There are over 200 tanagers species that come in every color of the rainbow. The Scarlet Tanager is the only tanager that nests routinely in Michigan. They are found mainly in mature deciduous forests with hemlock and pine. They can also be found in younger deciduous forests and sometimes in heavily wooded suburban areas from late April to late September. They winter in northern and western South America, in Panama and as far south as Bolivia.

Scarlet Tanager Female

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Behavior: The song of the Scarlet Tanager has been compared to that of a “robin with a sore throat.” They glean insects from the tree canopy and have been recorded eating over 2,000 gypsy moth caterpillars in an hour. They will also eat fruit and berries when seasonally available. A group of tanagers are collectively known as a "season" of tanagers.

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