Summer Color: Tanagers

With summer in full swing, we can hear familiar sounds throughout the Prescott area. One of the most recognizable signs that summer has arrived is the bubbling vocalizations of our local tanager population.

This colorful family of birds can be found in most habitats during the more temperate months of the year, each of the three species inhabiting a specific elevation band. This relative separation between the populations helps ensure that they don’t step on each other’s toes (er, wings) while searching for food and good habitat for rearing young.

In my opinion the most predictable of the three is the brilliantly colored summer tanager. On any day during this time of year a slow walk through our region’s riparian cottonwood forests is almost sure to reveal one calling from high in the crown of a tree. You will likely hear them long before you see them, if you see them at all. While they are the only bird in North America with completely red plumage, they can be hard to spot, as they prefer to spend most of their time in the mottled light of the canopy. With patience, though, you will likely catch a glimpse of a bright red male or perhaps a mustard-colored female.

Their call is often described phonetically as “piti-uck.” While I’ve never heard it quite that way, it’s a good start, and once you commit the call to memory, you’ll begin to hear it on any summer walk through Watson Woods. Aside from our large riparian corridors, summer tanagers need surprisingly little habitat to survive. I have detected them on multiple occasions in very small urban pockets of habitat that contain either cottonwoods or sycamores.

While the summer tanager tends to stick to riparian forests below 6,000 feet, the western tanager is a bit broader in its habitat and range. Found throughout the western US and southwestern Canada, they can occur from just above sea level to around 10,000 feet. It’s not uncommon to see them in riparian forests alongside their crimson-colored cousins. More typical habitat, though, is the mixed woodlands nd coniferous forests between 5,000 and 8,000 feet. Because of their ability to survive in a wider range of habitats, they are the most likely of the three to show up in your own backyard. A jelly feeder or orange slices can often entice this colorful species—and it will be obvious when they arrive.

Their bright yellow body contrasts sharply with their black wings and distinct white wing bar. To top it off, they have a bright red head, which varies dramatically in both extent and shade. While many have a glowing fire-engine-red head, it can range all the way to nearly orange, but always within the red spectrum. Their vocalizations are extremely similar to those of the American robin and black-headed grosbeak, and it may take quite a bit of field study before you can confidently differentiate the three.

The last of the trio is my personal favorite: the hepatic tanager. The root of this curious name is hepat, derived from the Greek hêpar, meaning ‘liver.’ When you first see the iron-red color of the hepatic male, it makes sense. This hue is often described as ‘brick red,’ but whatever you call it, I haven’t seen another species of bird with quite the same shade. This sienna tone often has a dusty appearance, with patches of sooty gray along the flanks and, most conspicuously, the cheeks. One sure-fire way to differentiate them from a summer tanager is the slate-gray beak, in contrast to the creamy yellow beak of both the summer and western tanagers.

Fortunately there is little to no habitat overlap between them and the summer tanager, so the differences are seldom relevant. Of the three, hepatics are often the hardest species to find, as they are restricted to mountain and high-elevation coniferous forests. Unlike the other tanager species we find them only in the southwestern US. Within their preferred habitat they are listed as uncommon and most often seen solitary or in breeding pairs. Finding one is a treat, often a surprise. Residents of Walker or other outlying high-elevation communities with strong Ponderosa-pine presence may glimpse one of these rarities in the yard.

All three tanagers are berry- and insect-eaters, so providing hanging fruit, planting berry-producing bushes and supporting habitat for local insect populations will raise the likelihood of attracting them to your yard. As always, a moving water feature can attract myriad birds, and tanagers are no exception.

While the hepatic tanager is the scarcest of the three Arizona tanagers, it is actually the most widespread, ranging all the way to Argentina. Tanagers are found only in the western hemisphere, and there are 392 known species, in nearly every color imaginable. We even have an eastern-US representative: the scarlet tanager.

This amazing family of birds is one of my motivations to one day make my way to South America. Till then we can enjoy our three fiery friends right here in the heart of Arizona’s central highlands.