|
KBC
Webmaster,
I am including some shots of a Summer Tanager that visited a
feeder in North Ridgeville, Lorain County Ohio this past
January. The included photographs were taken January 8,
2002. The bird was intermittently seen from January fourth
through January twenty-fifth. Ron Lang was the man who had
the bird at his feeder. He only has a guide that shows
Scarlet Tanager. I felt the bird just did not "feel" right
for a Scarlet Tanager to me and I asked the professional
opinions of Paul Lehman and Bruce Peterjohn.
Although of little use in the field, I could see the bill
was not toothed, and that is why I sought higher help. After
talking to Mr. Lang felt there was no way it was a Scarlet.
Ron said the bird was the size of Northern Cardinal. This
was a really remarkable sighting and stacks up with the
other Neotropicals we had in December and January I also
noticed in Birder's Journal (highly recommended periodical)
that several Summer Tanagers were seen across southern
Canada in November and December 2001.
Sincerely
Larry Rosche
Editor, The Cleveland Bird Calendar
Larry,
I am finally back from my CA/AZ tour, which went
well. Have now looked at your additional tanager photos,
and most characters certainly point to Summer. The bill
size, upper parts color, and the rump and vent color are all
good for Summer. As is the cocked tail. The only thing that
continues to be a bit odd is how dark the wings look, and
with the dull whitish edgings to the tertials. Jon Dunn and
I just recently saw a wintering Summer Tanager in Tucson
that struck me as having somewhat darker wings than most,
although not quite as dark as the Ohio bird shows. But the
bill, back, and especially rump/vent are Summer all the way.
Comments by Paul Lehman
Hi Larry:
With regards to the Ohio tanager, to me, that bird is
clearly a Summer Tanager. The photos do not show a tooth on
the bill, which would eliminate Scarlet from consideration.
The bill shape and color are wrong for a Scarlet but dead on
for a Summer, and young Summers can be yellow-green rather
than yellow‑orange. The extensive edgings to the flight
feathers are also wrong for a Scarlet; at least I have never
seen any that appeared like that.
It is hard
to say where a winter Summer Tanager in Ohio may have come
from, but I would be reluctant to assume that it is a bird
from eastern North America. Assigning a race to this
individual will not be possible unless it die and is in a
museum, but this bird could have come from anywhere in this
species' range. Additionally, winter Summer Tanagers have a
precedence in the eastern US and elsewhere on the continent
(not many records in the east, but there are some), while a
Scarlet at this latitude would be truly remarkable. Unless
the photos on Vic's website are misleading for some reason,
the identity of that tanager appears to be a Summer to me.
Comments from Bruce Peterjohn
|
