Western Tanager

Piranga ludovicianaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Tanagers (Thraupidae)
Western Tanager Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye color: Brown iris
  • Head Pattern: Plain
  • Crown color: Red, Yellow
  • Forehead color: Red
  • Nape Color: Yellow
  • Throat color: Red
  • Cere color:
Western Tanager Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 18 cm (7.25 in)
  • Weight: 28 g (1 oz)
  • Size: Size 2. Small (5 - 9 in)
  • Color: Red, White, Black, Yellow
  • Underparts: Yellow
  • Upperparts: Black and yellow.
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Western Tanager Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
  • Wingspan Range: 27-30 cm (11-12 in)
  • Wing Shape: Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Fan-shaped Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Yellow
  • Under Tail: Yellow
  • Leg color: Gray
.

All contents © Copyright 2003-2005 Mitch Waite Group. All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group. Privacy Policy

Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Family Tanager (Thraupidae)_blue
Species Piranga ludoviciana
Length7.25 Inches
Wingspan11.5 Inches

Western Tanager

Western Tanager: Medium-sized tanager with brilliant red head, bright yellow body, black back, wings, and tail. Wings have two bars: upper bar is yellow, lower bar is white. Legs and feet are gray. Swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings. It was first recorded on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

● Song: "che-ree, che-ree, che-weeu, cheweeu", "pit-r-rick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Western Tanager: Eats insects and berries; forages in trees and shrubs, or catches insects in the air.

● Breeding & nesting: Western Tanager: Three to five brown marked, blue eggs are laid in a frail, shallow saucer nest woven from rootlets, weed stalks, and bark strips, and saddled on a horizontal branch of a Douglas fir, spruce, pine, or oak. Female incubates eggs for about 13 days.

● Similar species: Western Tanager: Flame-colored Tanager has dark bill, bolder white wing-bars, and darkly streaked back. Scarlet Tanager (female and juvenile) has olive-colored back and lacks wing-bars.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Western Tanager Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Western Tanager: Breeds from southern Alaska and Mackenzie southward and winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open coniferous forests.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationFairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight1 Ounces