The Western Tanager is a beautiful, medium-sized songbird. The adult male sports striking breeding plumage with an entirely red head, bright yellow hindneck, rump and underparts, a yellow upper wingbar and a whitish yellow lower wingbar and black wings, back and tail.The female has olive-green upperparts, a gray back and wings, a yellowish rump and and two yellowish white wingbars. As a whole, The Western Tanager has a dull yellow bill, bluish gray legs and feet and eyes that are dark.
Western Tanagers arrive at their breeding grounds in spring from as far as Costa Rica due to their preference to nest in coniferous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests. The breeding range includes forests along the west coast of North America from south-eastern Alaska and down towards North Baja, California in the south. The Western Tanager breeds farther north than any other member of its mostly tropical family.
The female builds the nest in about four days constructing a shallow cup made of twigs, grasses, bark strips and rootlets. She lines the nest with grass, hair or fine plant fibers. The nest will be located on top of a branch that is high in the tree and well out from the trunk.
The female will lay one to five eggs that are a blue-green with brown spots. The eggs are incubated by the female for an average of thirteen days. The babies are fed by both parents for eleven to fifteen days when they will fledge.
These bright birds eat mainly insects (they can flycatch!) but will also eat fruit. They move slowly and deliberately through the foliage looking for tasty tidbits. As with most birds, Western Tanagers are attracted to moving water sources.
Interestingly, the red pigment in the face is due to Rhodoxanthin, which is not normally found in birds. The bird doesn't manufacture the pigment like other red tanagers do. Instead, it is acquired from the diet , presumably from insects that received the pigment from the plants they consume.
