For the Birds: Western Tanager - Our Western Migrator

Western Tanager, male breeding
Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

A bright yellow bird with a scarlet head is migrating through our region right now! The male Western Tanager is a sight to behold and yet can be surprisingly hard to spot if it pauses in a willow or other yellow-tinted tree. The less dramatically colored female is even harder to spot.

These birds are strictly western birds flying from Mexico and Central America and up the western coast often into Canada. This species was first discovered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Female Western Tanager
Photo by Craig Kerns

These mostly insectivores are flying to nesting sites in large, mostly coniferous, trees. Douglas Firs and Hemlocks with trunks 21-inches-or -larger, which means 80–year-old-or-older, which are the Western Tanager’s definite preference in the Pacific Northwest. 

They are vitally important for their breeding habitat, perhaps because of the types of insects that live in older trees.

During breeding season, they eat almost exclusively insects, majorly consuming Western Spruce budworms and Douglas-fir moth larvae. Western Tanagers are mostly foliage gleaners but will fly out and catch insects [called hawking] and have been known to hover. 

They prefer forests with a 70% canopy, with openings. Except during migration, this species usually forages and nests high in the canopy, making them even harder to see than their bright colors and slow movements would suggest.

Monogamous for a season, the adults arrive first, often with their mate. Only occasionally do they fly in a small flock. Female Western Tanagers build their flimsy nests 20-42 feet up, out on an end branch fork. The 3-5 nestlings are fed by both parents and stay close to the parents for about two weeks after fledging.

Western Tanager, non-breeding
Photo by Doug Parrott

The adults migrate south first, leaving their offspring to find their own way down. During fall migration they eat berries and other fruits.

The red coloring on the male’s head is gotten from the insects they eat. The females don’t have red on their heads, and non-breeding males usually only have a little red coloring, so hormones must activate the process.

It is during migration, when these tanagers are flying lower looking for good feeding, drinking and bathing rest stops that you will see Western Tanagers.

If you have running water, or a bird bath in a yard with trees, you may be visited by these lovely birds. Search for them if you hear their rolling “Pit-er-ick”. Despite their bright colors they can be hard to see.

See previous For the Birds articles by Christine Southwick here.