One can hardly hike more than a few minutes in the woods here in central NC without hearing the cheerful call of the Summer Tanager.
This was the case when I spotted this male singing in the trees at the Pee Dee NWR in Wadesboro NC last week. He was easy to find with that bold red plumage, especially when he landed on the bare branches of a dead tree near the shoreline of the lake.
Such a gorgeous bird!
Did you know that the Summer Tanager is the only entirely red colored bird found in the United States? Northern Cardinals and Scarlet Tanagers come close however both of those species also have black feathers on their bodies.
All three species get their bold red hues from carotenoid compounds which produce the red (and sometimes yellow) colors seen in the birds feathers. These are acquired through their diets (mainly through fruit), and are then processed in the body into pigments that are deposited in the growing feathers.
Summer Tanagers are generally spring and summertime residents of North Carolina.
They arrive in April and hang out until September before migrating south to Mexico, Central and South America. That being said, there are small but growing numbers of Summer Tanagers that stick around for the entire winter in the eastern part of the state provided that they have a reliable food source available to them via a feeder.
Pretty cool huh?
🙂
Oh btw, I’ve posted new birdwatching tours to the Pee Dee NWR (where I photographed this Summer Tanager) here on this website.
Wanna join me?
Check out the link below for booking details.
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds