Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea
Tanager family (Thraupidae)

Habitat:
Mature deciduous forest

Description:
Medium-sized tanager, 6 ½” long.  Male (right in image) – scarlet-red body with black wings and black tail.  Female (left in image) – yellowish below, olive green above, grayish brown wings, more greenish than Summer Tanager female.

Nesting:
Shallow saucer-shaped nest built on a horizontal limb, 20 to 30 feet above the ground.  Eggs are pale blue-green with irregular dots of brown.  Clutch size – 3 to 5 eggs.

Voice:
Song is similar to the American Robin, but phrases and notes are more hoarse, like an American Robin with a sore throat.  Call is a distinct “chip-burr chip-burr”. 

Name Origin:
Piranga, a native name for a South American bird; olivacea, Latin for “olive” for the color of the female.  Tanager, from tanagara, for “a bird” in Tupi, a South American language. 

In the Nature Park:
Neotropical migrant.  Common in the deep woods; rarely seen along the trails.  The best time of year to see the Scarlet Tanager is right after they return from migration, around mid-May, when the male occurs lower in the canopy of the forest.  Otherwise, the male, despite his bright red plumage, disappears into the thick green foliage during the nesting season.