Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The male Summer Tanager is all red. The female is yellowish-brown above and orange-yellow below. Young birds have a female-like plumage. The immature male is blotched with red. The bill in both sexes is thick and mostly yellow-brown with dusky on the ridge of the culmen. It is very similar to the Hepatic Tanager but is distinguished a yellow-brown bill and no gray on the lores. The Summer Tanager is a Boreal Migrant that winters in Peru generally within the months of September through March.

Status: The Summer Tanager is uncommon to rare but widespread Boreal migrant in Amazonia. It forages in second growth, river islands, and forest edges and it is known to range up to 1500 m along the foothill of the Andes. The Summer Tanager also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, Bo, and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Piranga Roja.

Sub-species: Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra rubra), (Linnaeus), 1758.

Meaning of Name: Piranga: Güaraní name Pirangá red (bird), for a small bird, a finch or a tanager. rubra: L. ruber, rubra red, ruddy.

See more of the Family Cardinalidae