BIRD OF THE MONTH - Summer Tanager

Summer Tanagers are medium-sized, chunky songbirds with big bodies and large heads. They have large, thick, blunt-tipped bills. The only completely red bird in North America, the strawberry-colored male Summer Tanager is an eye-catching sight against the green leaves of the forest canopy. Females and immature males are bright yellow green—yellower on the head and underparts and slightly greener on the back and wings. The bill is pale. Molting immature males can be patchy yellow and red.

The Summer Tanager is a bee and wasp specialist. It catches these insects in flight and kills them by beating them against a branch. Before eating a bee, the tanager rubs it on the branch to remove the stinger. Summer Tanagers eat larvae, too: first they get rid of the adults, and then they tear open the nest to get the grubs. They also eat other aerial and terrestrial invertebrates as well as fruits.

Males have a sweet, whistling song similar to an American Robin; both sexes give a distinctive pit-ti-tuck call note. A long distance migrant, eastern and central populations cross the Gulf of Mexico to reach their wintering grounds, while western populations may move over land through Mexico.