SUMMER TANAGER

The 'Summer Tanager', ''Piranga rubra'', is a medium-sized songbird of the Tanager family, 'Thraupidae'.
Adults have stout pointed bills. Adult males are rose red; females are orangish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail.
Their breeding habitat is open wooded areas, especially with oaks, across the southern United States. They build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch.
These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. This tanager 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, especially bees and wasps, and berries.

Contents

Song & Calls

References

Further reading

Book

Thesis

Articles

Song & Calls

The Summer Tanager has a robin-like song, similar enough that novices sometimes mistake this bird for a robin. The song consists of melodic units, repeated in a constant stream. The Summer Tanager's song, however, is much more monotonous than a Robin's, often consisting of as few as 3 or 4 distinct units. It is clearer and less nasal than the song of the Scarlet Tanager.
The Summer Tanager also has a sharp, agitated-sounded call that is described in Peterson's field guide as "pi-tuk" or "pik-i-tuk-i-tuk".

References

★ Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

★ R.T. Peterson & V.M. Peterson. ''Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America''. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2002.

Further reading

Book

★ Robinson, W. D. 1996. ''Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)''. In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 248 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.

Thesis

★ Aborn DA. Ph.D. (1996). ''Habitat selection, movement, and activity budgets of neotropical landbird migrants following trans-Gulf migration''. The University of Southern Mississippi, United States -- Mississippi.

★ Marcum HA. Ph.D. (2005). ''The effects of human disturbance on birds in Bastrop State Park''. Texas A&M University, United States -- Texas.

★ Shy E. Ph.D. (1982). ''EVOLUTION OF SONGS IN NORTH AMERICAN TANAGERS (THRAUPINAE: PIRANGA)''. Wayne State University, United States -- Michigan.

Articles

★ Aborn DA & Froehlich D. (1995). ''An observation of a Summer Tanager attempting to eat an Anolis lizard''. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol '66', no 4. p. 501-502.

★ Aborn DA & Moore FR. (1997). ''Pattern of movement by summer tanagers (Piranga rubra) during migratory stopover: A telemetry study''. Behaviour. vol '134', no 13-14. p. 1077-1100.

★ Aborn DA & Moore FR. (2004). ''Activity budgets of Summer Tanagers during spring migratory stopover''. Wilson Bulletin. vol '116', no 1. p. 64-68.

★ Behle WH. (1976). ''Mojave Desert Avi Fauna in the Virgin River Valley of Utah Nevada and Arizona USA''. Condor. vol '78', no 1. p. 40-48.

★ Beltran-S JW & Naranjo-H LG. (1988). ''Additions to the Avifauna of Gorgona Island Colombia''. Lozania. vol '56', p. 1-7.

★ Brauning DW, Brittingham MC, Gross DA, Leberman RC, Master TL & Mulvihill RS. (1994). ''Pennsylvania breeding birds of special concern: A listing rational and status update''. Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. vol '68', no 1. p. 3-28.

★ Brunton D. (1967). ''1st Record of the Summer Tanager in Ottawa Ontario Canada Piranga-Rubra''. Canadian Field Naturalist. vol '81', no 4.

★ Caine LA & Marion WR. (1991). ''Artificial Addition of Snags and Nest Boxes to Slash Pine Plantations''. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol '62', no 1. p. 97-106.

★ Christianson L. (1972). ''Another Summer Tanager Record''. Loon. vol '44', no 2. p. 57-58.

★ Conner RN & Dickson JG. (1997). ''Relationships between bird communities and forest age, structure, species composition and fragmentation in the West Gulf Coastal Plain''. Texas Journal of Science. vol '49', no 3 SUPPL. p. 123-138.

★ Eisenmann E. (1969). ''Wing Formula as a Means of Distinguishing Summer Tanager Piranga-Rubra from Hepatic Tanager Piranga-Flava''. Bird Banding. vol '40', no 2. p. 144-145.

★ Harris B. (1987). ''Summer Tanager in Deuel County South Dakota USA''. South Dakota Bird Notes. vol '39', no 3. p. 68-69.

★ Howe HF & De Steven D. (1979). ''Fruit Production Migrant Bird Visitation and Seed Dispersal of Guarea-Glabra in Panama''. Oecologia. vol '39', no 2. p. 185-196.

★ Hubbard JP. (1975). ''Eastern Summer Tanager in New-Mexico USA''. Southwestern Naturalist. vol '20', no 3. p. 420-421.

★ Janssen RB. (1972). ''Summer Tanager at Detroit Lakes''. Loon. vol '44', no 2.

★ Kilgo JC, Sargent RA, Miller KV & Chapman BR. (1997). ''Landscape influences on breeding bird communities in hardwood fragments in South Carolina''. Wildlife Society Bulletin. vol '25', no 4. p. 878-885.

★ Kroodsma RL. (1982). ''Bird Community Ecology on Power Line Corridors in East Tennessee USA''. Biological Conservation. vol '23', no 2. p. 79-94.

★ Kroodsma RL. (1984). ''Effect of Edge on Breeding Forest Bird Species''. Wilson Bulletin. vol '96', no 3. p. 426-436.

★ LaRue CT, Dickson LL, Brown NL, Spence JR & Stevens LE. (2001). ''Recent bird records from the Grand Canyon region, 1974-2000''. Western Birds. vol '32', no 2. p. 101-118.

★ Leberg PL, Spengler TJ & Barrow WC, Jr. (1996). ''Lipid and water depletion in migrating passerines following passage over the Gulf of Mexico''. Oecologia. vol '106', no 1. p. 1-7.

★ McNair DB. (1996). ''Late breeding records of a red-headed woodpecker and a summer tanager in Florida''. Florida Field Naturalist. vol '24', no 3. p. 78-80.

★ Moore FR & Aborn DA. (1996). ''Time of departure by summer tanagers (Piranga rubra) from a stopover site following spring trans-gulf migration''. Auk. vol '113', no 4. p. 949-952.

★ Perez-Rivera RA. (1997). ''The importance of vertebrates in the diet of tanagers''. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol '68', no 2. p. 178-182.

★ Powell BF & Steidl RJ. (2002). ''Habitat selection by riparian songbirds breeding in southern Arizona''. Journal of Wildlife Management. vol '66', no 4. p. 1096-1103.

★ Prather JW & Smith KG. (2003). ''Effects of tornado damage on forest bird populations in the Arkansas ozarks''. Southwestern Naturalist. vol '48', no 2. p. 292-297.

★ Prescott KW. (1974). ''Summer Tanager Southern Range Extension in Chile''. Auk. vol '91', no 3. p. 617-618.

★ Purdy J. (1986). ''A Summer Tanager in Manitoba Canada''. Blue Jay. vol '44', no 3. p. 184-186.

★ Rosenberg KV, Ohmart RD & Anderson BW. (1982). ''Community Organization of Riparian Breeding Birds Response to an Annual Resource Peak''. Auk. vol '99', no 2. p. 260-274.

★ Sewell J. (1994). ''Early summer Tanager sighting in DeKalb County''. Oriole. vol '59', no 1. p. 24-25.

★ Shepherd TM & Burns KJ. (2007). ''Intraspecific genetic analysis of the summer tanager Piranga rubra: implications for species limits and conservation''. Journal of Avian Biology. vol '38', no 1. p. 13-27.

★ Shy E. (1985). ''Songs of Summer Tanagers Piranga-Rubra Structure and Geographical Variation''. American Midland Naturalist. vol '114', no 1. p. 112-124.

★ Skagen SK, Melcher CP, Howe WH & Knopf FL. (1998). ''Comparative use of riparian corridors and oases by migrating birds in southeast Arizona''. Conservation Biology. vol '12', no 4. p. 896-909.

★ Somershoe SG, Twedt DJ & Reid B. (2006). ''Combining breeding bird survey and distance sampling to estimate density of migrant and breeding birds''. Condor. vol '108', no 3. p. 691-699.

★ Spengler TJ, Leberg PL & Barrow WC, Jr. (1995). ''Comparison of condition indices in migratory passerines at a stopover site in coastal Louisiana''. Condor. vol '97', no 2. p. 438-444.

★ Wakeley JS & Roberts TH. (1996). ''Bird distributions and forest zonation in a bottomland hardwood wetland''. Wetlands. vol '16', no 3. p. 296-308.

★ Walley WJ. (1993). ''Summer tanager at Dauphin, Manitoba''. Blue Jay. vol '51', no 1. p. 47-48.

★ Weise CM. (1969). ''Summer Tanager in Ozaukee County Wisconsin USA''. Passenger Pigeon. vol '31', no 1.

★ White DH, Chapman BR, Brunjes JH, Raftovich RV & Seginak JT. (1999). ''Abundance and reproduction of songbirds in burned and unburned pine forests of the Georgia Piedmont''. Journal of Field Ornithology. vol '70', no 3. p. 414-424.

★ Wilkinson J. (1977). ''1st Record of a Summer Tanager in Saskatchewan''. Blue Jay. vol '35', no 2. p. 87-88.

★ Woodliffe PA. (1988). ''Further Evidence for the Breeding of the Summer Tanager in Canada''. Ontario Birds. vol '6', no 3. p. 108-110.