Summer Tanager

The Summer Tanager is notable as the only completely red bird found in North America, with adult males showing a rosy to brick-red plumage over the entire body, lacking any black on the head or wings, distinguishing it from the similar Scarlet and Hepatic Tanagers. Females and immature birds are a warm mustard-yellow to orange-yellow overall, with a stout, pale bill. First-year males can show a patchy, mottled mix of yellow and red as they molt into adult plumage.

Nicknamed the "bee bird" in parts of its range, the Summer Tanager has a notable specialization for catching bees and wasps in flight, skillfully removing the stinger by beating the insect against a branch before eating it, and it will even raid wasp nests to feed on larvae.

Key Field Marks

• Adult male: entirely rosy-red to brick-red body, no black on wings or head, pale conical bill
• Female/immature: mustard-yellow to orange-yellow overall, pale bill, no wingbars
• Stout bill, slightly larger and heavier than a warbler's

Similar Species

• Scarlet Tanager male has black wings and tail contrasting with a bright red body, unlike the all-red Summer Tanager male.
• Hepatic Tanager male is a duller, brick-red with a dark gray cheek patch (auricular) and dark bill, versus the Summer Tanager's pale bill and lack of a dark cheek patch.
• Northern Cardinal male has a prominent crest and black face mask, both lacking in Summer Tanager.

Habitat

Favors open deciduous and pine-oak woodlands, riparian groves, and woodland edges, generally in the canopy.

Range

Breeds across the southern and south-central United States, from California and the Southwest east through the Southeast to the mid-Atlantic. Winters from Mexico through Central America to South America.

Migration

A long-distance neotropical migrant, traveling to wintering grounds as far south as the Amazon basin.

Behavior

Summer Tanagers forage deliberately in the mid- to upper canopy, and are especially known for sallying out to catch bees and wasps in flight, then returning to a perch to remove the stinger before swallowing the insect.

Voice

The song is a rich, whistled series of phrases similar to an American Robin's song but slightly hoarser and more musical; the distinctive call is a staccato "pik-i-tuk-i-tuk."

Feeding

Specializes in catching bees, wasps, and other flying insects, along with beetles and other invertebrates, and supplements its diet with fruit, especially outside the breeding season.

Nesting & Breeding

The female builds a shallow, loosely woven cup nest of grass and plant fibers, typically placed on a horizontal branch well out from the trunk. She incubates 3-4 eggs alone.