Western Tanager

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iWestern Tanager

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Piranga
Species:	P. ludoviciana

Binomial name

Piranga ludoviciana
(Wilson, 1811)

The Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, is a medium-sized songbird of the Tanager family, Thraupidae.

Adults have pale stout pointed bills, yellow underparts and light wing bars. Adult males have a bright red face and a yellow nape, shoulder, and rump, with black upper back, wings, and tail; in non-breeding plumage the head has no more than a reddish cast and the body has an olive tinge. Females have a yellow head and are olive on the back, with dark wings and tail.

The song of disconnected short phrases suggests an American Robin's but is hoarser and rather monotonous. The call is described as "pit-er-ick".

Their breeding habitat is coniferous or mixed woods across western North America from the U.S.-Mexican border as far north as southern Alaska; thus they are the northernmost-breeding tanager. They build a flimsy cup nest on a horizontal tree branch, usually in a conifer. They lay four bluish-green eggs with brown spots.

These birds migrate, wintering from central Mexico to Costa Rica. Some also winter in southern California.

These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, fruits and berries. At times they offer spectacular views, and in much of their range, when a non-birder tells a birder, "I saw the most amazing bird!" the birder can guess it was a male of this species.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Piranga ludoviciana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern