The summer tanager (Piranga rubra) is a medium-sized Americansongbird. Formerly placed in the tanagerfamily (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae).[2] The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.
Taxonomy
The summer tanager was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial nameFringilla rubra.[3] Linnaeus based his description on the "summer red-bird" described and illustrated by Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published in 1729–1732.[4] Catesby gave the location as Carolina, Linnaeus specified America; the type location is now South Carolina.[5] The summer tanager is the type species of the genusPiranga that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1808.[6][7] The genus name Piranga is from TupiTijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird; the specific rubra is from Latinruber meaning "red".[8]
Adults have stout, pointed bills and measure 17 cm (6.7 in) in length and weigh a mean 30.1 g (1.06 oz), ranging from 25.8–33.6 g (0.99–1.19 oz).[9][10] Wingspan ranges from 28 to 30 cm.[11] Adult males are rose red and similar in appearance to the hepatic tanager, although the latter has a dark bill; females are orangish on the underparts and olive on top, with olive-brown wings and tail. As with all other birds, all red and orange colorations are acquired through their diet.
The summer tanager has an American robin-like song, similar enough that novices sometimes mistake this bird for that species. The song consists of melodic units, repeated in a constant stream. The summer tanager's song, however, is much more monotonous than that of T. migratorius, often consisting of as few as three or four 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 pi-tuk or pik-i-tuk-i-tuk.[12]
Distribution and habitat
The summer tanager's habitat varies regionally, with pine-oak and mixed forests preferred in the southeastern United States, and riparian lowlands preferred in the southwest.[13] These birds spend the breeding season across the southern United States and Northern Mexico, reaching as far north as Iowa and New Jersey in the east.[14] They overwinter in Mexico, Central America and northern South America.[14] This tanager is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe.[citation needed]
Behaviour and ecology
These birds are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, but also regularly supplement their diets with fruit.[13][15] Fruit of Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae) are an especially well-liked food in their winter quarters and birds will forage in human-altered habitat.[16] Consequently, these trees can be planted to entice them to residential areas, and they may well be attracted to bird feeders.[citation needed] Summer tanagers have also been reported to eat larger invertebrate prey, including snails and slugs;[17] there is additionally one report of an individual attempting to eat a vertebrate–a green anole–at a migratory stopover site in Mississippi.[18]
Summer tanagers build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch anywhere from 4-45 feet from the ground.[19]
^Peterson, Roger Tory & Peterson, Virginia Marie (2002): Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (5th ed.). Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN0-395-74046-0
^ abShy, Eyal (1984). "Habitat shift and geographical variation in North American tanagers". Oecologia. 63: 281–285. doi:10.1007/BF00379890.
^Foster, Mercedes S. (2007). The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico. Bird Conservation International17(1): 45-61. doi:10.1017/S0959270906000554PDF fulltext
^Prescott, K.W. (1965). The scarlet tanager. New Jersey State Museum Investigation No. 2, Trenton, New Jersey. 159 pp
^Aborn, David A.; Froehlich, Daniel (1995). "An observation of a summer tanager attempting to eat an Anolis lizard". Journal of Field Ornithology. 66 (4): 501–502.