| Summer Tanager Piranga rubra |
| This is a first year Summer Tanager. The only entirely red bird in North America, the Summer Tanager is a bird of southern forests. It specializes in eating bees and wasps, both in the summer and on its wintering grounds in Central and South America. The Summer Tanager is considered a bee and wasp specialist. It usually catches a bee in flight and then kills it by beating it against a branch. Before eating the bee, the tanager removes the stinger by rubbing it on a branch. The tanager eats bee and wasp larvae too. It first catches the adult insects and then perches near the nest to tear it open and get the grubs. Like most birds that migrate long distances, the Summer Tanager puts on large amounts of fat to fuel the long flight. Tanagers arriving in Panama had enough fat to fly an estimated additional 890 km (553 mi). Where Summer and Scarlet tanagers occur together, the Summer Tanager prefers to breed in shorter and more open woodlands. In the West, the Summer Tanager breeds in lowlands along streams while the Western and Hepatic tanagers use coniferous forests at higher elevations. top Size: 17 cm (7 in) Weight: 30 g (1.06 ounces) Medium-sized songbird. Male entirely red; female dull yellow. a stout bill, rather long, and pointed. a light brownish bill, with lighter cutting edges. Eyes dark. Feet yellowish brown. |
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