Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Taxobox
name = Scarlet Tanager


image_width = 220px
image_caption = Adult male
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
gfdgdgfdgdfgfdg| ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Passeri
infraordo = Passerida
superfamilia = Passeroidea
familia = Cardinalidae
genus = "Piranga"
species = "P. olivacea"
binomial = "Piranga olivacea"
binomial_authority = (Gmelin, 1789)
synonyms ="Piranga erythromelas"

The Scarlet Tanager, "Piranga olivacea", is a medium-sized American songbird. Traditionally placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae) it is now thought to be much closer to cardinals (Cardinalidae). With their coloration, they somewhat remind of the Northern Cardinal ("Cardinalis cardinalis") and indeed it seems that this bird is a quite close relative.

Adults have pale stout smooth bills. Adult males are bright red with black wings and tail; females are yellowish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail. The adult male's winter plumage is similar to the female's, but the wings and tail remain darker. Young males briefly show a more complex variegated plumage intermediate between adult males and females. It apparently was such a specimen that was first scientifically described. Hence the older though somewhat confusing specific name "olivacea" ("the olive-colored one") is used rather than, as had been common throughout the 19th century, "erythromelas" ("the red-and-black one").

Their breeding habitat is large forested areas, especially with oaks, across eastern North America. These birds migrate to northwestern South America, passing through Central America around April, and again around October. [Herrera "et al." (2006)] They begin arriving on the breeding grounds in numbers by about May and already start to move south again in mid-summer; by early October they are all on their way south. [Henninger (1906), OOS (2004)] This bird is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe.

These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and fruit. [E.g. of Gumbo-limbo ("Bursera simaruba"). "Trophis racemosa" (Moraceae), and especially of "Cymbopetalum mayanum" (Annonaceae): Forster (2007).]

They build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch.

These birds do best in the forest interior, where they are less exposed to predators and brood parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird. Their numbers are declining in some areas due to habitat fragmentation, but on a global scale they are a plentiful species.

Footnotes

References

*|year=2004|id=53809|title=Piranga olivacea|downloaded=12 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* (2007): The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico. "Bird Conservation International" 17(1): 45-61. doi|10.1017/S0959270906000554 (HTML abstract)
* (1906): A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio. "Wilson Bull." 18(2): 47-60. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/DJVU/v018n02/P0047-P0060.djvu DjVu fulltext] [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v018n02/p0047-p0060.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (2006): Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador. ["New records for the avifauna of El Salvador"] . "Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología" 16(2): 1-19. [Spanish with English abstract] [http://www.sao.org.co/publicaciones/boletinsao/01-Herrera.etal.RecordsSalvador.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (2004): Annotated Ohio state checklist. Version of April 2004. [http://www.ohiobirds.org/publications/OBRClist.pdf PDF fulltext]

External links

* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Scarlet_Tanager.html Scarlet Tanager Species Account] - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species/scarlet_tanager_info.htm Scarlet Tanager Information] - South Dakota Birds and Birding
* [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i6080id.html Scarlet Tanager "Piranga olivacea"] USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
* [http://audubon-print.com/summer-red-bird.html Summer Red Bird by John Audubon]
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/20109700.htm Stamps]
* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=9159 Scarlet Tanager videos] on the Internet Bird Collection


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Scarlet tanager — Scarlet Scar let, a. Of the color called scarlet; as, a scarlet cloth or thread. [1913 Webster] {Scarlet admiral} (Zo[ o]l.), the red admiral. See under {Red}. Scarlet bean (Bot.), a kind of bean ({Phaseolus multiflorus}) having scarlet flowers;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • scarlet tanager — ☆ scarlet tanager n. a songbird (Piranga olivacea) native to the U.S., the male of which has a scarlet body and black wings and tail …   English World dictionary

  • scarlet tanager — žalsvoji piranga statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Piranga olivacea angl. scarlet tanager vok. Scharlachtangare, f rus. красно чёрная пиранга, f pranc. tangara écarlate, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – pirangos …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • scarlet tanager — noun Date: 1810 a common American tanager (Piranga olivacea) with the male having scarlet plumage and black wings during the breeding season and the female having chiefly olive plumage …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • scarlet tanager — scar′let tan′ager n. orn a tanager, Piranga olivacea, that breeds in E North America: the male in spring and summer is scarlet with black wings and tail • Etymology: 1800–10, amer …   From formal English to slang

  • scarlet tanager — an American tanager, Piranga olivacea, the male of which is bright red with black wings and tail during the breeding season. See illus. under tanager. [1800 10, Amer.] * * * …   Universalium

  • scarlet tanager — noun the male is bright red with black wings and tail • Syn: ↑Piranga olivacea, ↑redbird, ↑firebird • Hypernyms: ↑tanager • Member Holonyms: ↑Piranga, ↑genus Piranga …   Useful english dictionary

  • Scarlet — Scar let, a. Of the color called scarlet; as, a scarlet cloth or thread. [1913 Webster] {Scarlet admiral} (Zo[ o]l.), the red admiral. See under {Red}. Scarlet bean (Bot.), a kind of bean ({Phaseolus multiflorus}) having scarlet flowers; scarlet… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Scarlet admiral — Scarlet Scar let, a. Of the color called scarlet; as, a scarlet cloth or thread. [1913 Webster] {Scarlet admiral} (Zo[ o]l.), the red admiral. See under {Red}. Scarlet bean (Bot.), a kind of bean ({Phaseolus multiflorus}) having scarlet flowers;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Scarlet fever — Scarlet Scar let, a. Of the color called scarlet; as, a scarlet cloth or thread. [1913 Webster] {Scarlet admiral} (Zo[ o]l.), the red admiral. See under {Red}. Scarlet bean (Bot.), a kind of bean ({Phaseolus multiflorus}) having scarlet flowers;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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