western tanager nc | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

By: Sally Siko

Happy to finally get a 3 weeks ago in the form of a friendly Western Tanager which has been showing up in a residential area of Raleigh North Carolina over the past couple of weeks.
I’d dipped on seeing another one in Rocky Mount last month (after a 10hr feeder stakeout) so when I set out to meet up with my friend Corie Latta @latta.ridge to find this bird at yet another feeder, we tried to rein in our expectations given our last experience chasing this rarity.

A birder herself, homeowner Patty M. graciously allowed us to enter her property so that we could try and get a good look at this beautiful bird. She was super nice and was just as excited to see this bird at her feeders as we were!
Patty offered a place to sit on her patio so that we could be comfortable while waiting for the Tanager to show up at the jelly feeder which was hanging in a tree in her backyard.
Happily it didn’t take long until the Tanager made its appearance! We happily grabbed a few quick photos of the curious bird and shared celebratory fist bumps of approval once it flew off.
So cool!

Patty explained that this Western Tanager actually started showing up in her backyard last spring! It left for a year and had returned to her property a few weeks ago.
I found this fascinating because the range of Western Tanagers typically extends from Alaska down into California and all over the western United States, west of the Rocky Mountains.
The fact that this lone Tanager decided to make a hard right turn to the east to return to NC for a second time on it’s spring migration journey north is very interesting.
Clearly the bird made a choice to ignore it’s instinctual pull to the west by flying to NC instead.
The Tanager must have remembered all of that delicious jelly which Patty offers in her feeders and thus decided to follow it’s appetite rather than it’s instincts lol!
Whatever the reason for it’s appearance, we were very very happy to finally lay eyes on this gorgeous bird.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds

Now that know what you’re thinking, these are photos of Baltimore Orioles in this post, not Western Tanagers.
Well, the reason why is because I failed hard while on a feeder stakeout while watching for a lone vagrant Western Tanager in Rocky Mount NC this past week.
Though we never saw my target bird, I did come away with a few words of advice if you’re going to wait on a bird plus a good number of beautiful Baltimore Oriole photos which is still pretty damn cool lol!

One-if you’re going to stakeout a bird you’ll need to bring a few things to make the time sitting in one spot bearable.
*a friend
*drinks
*a comfy place to sit
*snacks
*a masseuse (sore back & legs from sitting)
*a good sense of humor & optimism
*the ability to let time go and stick around 30 mins later after you’ve said you’d give up in 5
*the grace to take the L and move on lol

Two-if your target bird is on private property make an effort to thank the owner for their hospitality if they’ve made the rare bird sighting public.
I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to connect with other bird lovers who are generous enough to open up their yards to birders so that we can enjoy their feathered treasure.
In this case we got to meet Ricky & Ann.
They were so nice!!!
Apparently they’ve been feeding the birds in their yard for 30 years & it showed!
We saw over two dozen different species (including these gorgeous Orioles!) while we sat watching for that Tanager.
I was impressed with the couple’s warmth and enthusiasm for birds, their support of their fellow birders efforts in seeing the rarity that had showed up in their yard.
After 2 mins of chatting with them it was like meeting long lost family.
That to me is better than anything, a rarity in my book 🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my beloved 50MP beast, the @canonusa #5Ds

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