Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

The scarlet tanager is a medium-sized American songbird in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It was placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae) until 2009, but was moved to Cardinalidae following several genetic studies indicating the Piranga tanagers are more closely related to cardinals and their allies. Breeding males have bright red plumage with black wings and tails, while females are yellow-olive. Outside the breeding season, males develop plumage similar to that of females, although their wings and tails remain darker. The species breeds mainly in large deciduous forests in eastern North America. It migrates through Central America to spend the winter in forests along the Andean foothills of northwestern South America. Scarlet tanagers feed mainly on insects, but they also eat fruit when it is available. Habitat fragmentation can increase nest predation and brood parasitism, and populations are declining in some areas. However, the species is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 9,856 times across 27 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 17°C (typically 15 to 26°C, from 25 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 24°N in October to 42°N in July, about 2,000 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.