Scarlet Tanager

The Scarlet Tanager is one of the most vividly colored birds of the eastern deciduous forest canopy, with breeding males showing an intense, fiery scarlet-red body sharply contrasted against jet-black wings and tail. This brilliant plumage is molted after breeding into a female-like olive-yellow body with duskier, blackish wings, a transformation that can catch birders off guard in late summer and fall. Females and immature birds are olive-yellow above and yellow below year-round, with dark olive-gray (not black) wings.

Despite its brilliant coloring, the Scarlet Tanager can be surprisingly difficult to spot as it forages high in the leafy canopy of mature forest, and it is often detected first by its distinctive burry, robin-like song or its sharp "chip-burr" call.

Key Field Marks

• Breeding male: fiery scarlet-red body with jet-black wings and tail
• Female/immature/non-breeding male: olive-yellow overall with dark olive-gray wings (not black)
• Stout, pale, slightly bulbous bill
• Molting males in fall may show a patchy mix of red and olive-yellow

Similar Species

• Summer Tanager male is entirely red with no black on the wings, unlike the Scarlet Tanager's contrasting black wings.
• Northern Cardinal has a crest and black face mask, both absent in Scarlet Tanager.
• Female Scarlet Tanagers resemble female Summer Tanagers but have darker, grayer (not pale) wings and a shorter, less elongated bill.

Habitat

Breeds in mature deciduous and mixed forest, especially oak-dominated woodlands with a closed canopy, generally avoiding small forest fragments.

Range

Breeds across the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Winters in the forests of the Andes foothills and Amazon basin in South America.

Migration

A long-distance nocturnal migrant that crosses the Gulf of Mexico or travels overland through Central America to reach South American wintering grounds.

Behavior

Scarlet Tanagers forage deliberately and often stay hidden in the dense canopy of tall trees, making them harder to see than their brilliant coloring would suggest. They are sensitive to forest fragmentation, generally requiring large tracts of unbroken forest to breed successfully.

Voice

The song is a burry, hoarse series of phrases often described as sounding like a robin with a sore throat; the distinctive call is a sharp "chip-burr."

Feeding

Feeds mainly on insects gleaned from foliage, including caterpillars, beetles, and wasps, supplemented with fruit, especially during migration.

Nesting & Breeding

The female builds a shallow, loosely constructed cup nest of twigs, typically placed on a horizontal branch well out from the trunk high in the canopy. She incubates 3-5 eggs alone.