Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 6.3–6.7 in
16–17 cm - Wingspan
- 9.8–11.4 in
25–29 cm - Weight
- 0.8–1.3 oz
23–38 g
Relative Size
- Slightly smaller than a Northern Cardinal; larger than a Yellow Warbler.
Other Names
- Tangara écarlate (French)
- Tángara escarlata (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- On the wintering grounds in South America the Scarlet Tanager joins mixed species foraging flocks with flycatchers, antbirds, woodcreepers, and resident tropical tanagers.
- The female Scarlet Tanager sings a song similar to the male's, but softer, shorter, and less harsh. She sings in answer to the male's song and while she is gathering nesting material.
- The response of the Scarlet Tanager to habitat fragmentation varies from place to place. Results from the Cornell Lab’s Project Tanager indicate that in the heart of the species’ range in the Northeast, it can be found in small forest patches. In the Midwest, similar sized forest patches tend to have no tanagers.
- Scarlet Tanagers often play host to eggs of the Brown-headed Cowbird, particularly where the forest habitat has been fragmented. When a pair of tanagers notices a female cowbird approaching, they aggressively drive her away. If they don’t notice, the cowbird gets rid of a tanager egg and replaces it with one of her own. The tanagers apparently can’t tell the difference, either before or after the egg hatches, and they raise the imposter along with the rest of their brood.
- The oldest Scarlet Tanager on record was nearly 12 years old.
Habitat
Forest
Scarlet Tanagers breed in mature deciduous forests and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests in eastern North America. They nest in oak, pine-oak, oak-hickory, beech, hemlock-hardwood, and occasionally pure eastern hemlock forests. In Canada they sometimes extend into boreal forests in stands of aspen, balsam poplar, and birch. Breeding Scarlet Tanagers prefer large forest tracts with large trees. During spring and fall they use similar forest habitats as well as open spaces such as parks and gardens. When they arrive in the southern United States coast in early spring they feed in shrubby vegetation, grassy fields, and on the ground. Scarlet Tanagers winter in mature forests and forest edges in northern and western South America, mostly on hills and mountains. They range south as far as the Bolivian lowlands.
Food
Insects
Scarlet Tanagers eat mainly insects along with some fruit and tender buds. Their invertebrate diet includes ants, sawflies, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, cicadas, leafhoppers, spittlebugs, treehoppers, plant lice, scale insects, termites, grasshoppers, locusts, dragonflies, dobsonflies, snails, earthworms, and spiders. While searching for these tidbits they walk along branches high in the canopy or (rarely) along the ground, or vertically on tree trunks to probe the bark. Scarlet Tanagers perch or hover with fast wingbeats to grab insects from leaves, bark, and flowers, and they catch flying insects like bees, wasps, and hornets from the air. They swallow small larvae whole, but they kill larger prey by pressing it into a branch. In the winter, they forage in mixed-species flocks with woodcreepers, flycatchers, barbets, and tropical tanagers.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 3–5 eggs
- Number of Broods
- 1 broods
- Egg Length
- 0.8–1.1 in
2–2.7 cm - Egg Width
- 0.6–0.7 in
1.5–1.8 cm - Incubation Period
- 12–14 days
- Nestling Period
- 9–15 days
- Egg Description
- Greenish blue to light blue speckled with chestnut, purplish red, and lilac.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless, eyes closed, with orange skin and small tufts of grayish white down on the head and back.
Nest Description
The female gathers nesting material from the forest floor and builds a flimsy nest in 3–4 days, spending relatively little time on it each day. She drops material onto the nest, hops in, and molds it into shape by pressing her body against the sides and bottom, then getting out and weaving in loose ends. The nest is a loosely woven saucer of twigs, grasses, plant stalks, bark strips, rootlets, and pine needles. It has a shallow and asymmetrical interior space, lined with grass, fine rootlets, fine plant fibers, vine tendrils, and pine needles.
Nest Placement
Tree
The female chooses the nest site, usually selecting a shaded spot within a cluster of leaves at a juncture of small branches. Nests are often fairly high (50 feet or more from the ground) on a nearly horizontal branch well away from the trunk. The site usually has an unobstructed view of the ground and open flyways from nearby trees. Scarlet Tanagers tend to nest in mature deciduous trees such as maple, beech, and oak, but they also nest in eastern hemlock.
© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Scarlet Tanagers are strong fliers, making swift, direct flights and migrating long distances in fall and spring. Males arrive early on their breeding grounds to defend loose territories that include mating, nesting, and foraging areas. Territorial singing battles sometimes can escalate to confrontations, where one or both males spread and droop their wings and raise their tail in threat. If neither backs down, the standoff culminates in one male chasing another. Scarlet Tanagers are monogamous within each breeding season but switch mates from year to year. Parents feed their young for up to two weeks after the birds fledge, and then the family disperses before migrating. On wintering grounds Scarlet Tanagers join up with other species in foraging flocks.
Conservation
Least Concern
Overall, Scarlet Tanager populations appear stable, although their numbers have fluctuated regionally in the last several decades. The species increased in parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes, and South but declined in areas of the Northeast and New England. Partners in Flight estimates there are about 2.2 million Scarlet Tanagers, with 93 percent of the breeding population in the United States. Scarlet Tanagers are interior forest species, so changes in land-use—fragmentation by development as well as regrowth as cleared land reverts to forest—may be responsible for some of these conflicting trends. In fragmented landscapes, nests are in greater danger of being parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds and from predators that operate along habitat edges. To safeguard the Scarlet Tanager population, researchers recommend preserving and restoring mature forest habitat for breeding, migrating, and wintering birds.
Credits
- Mowbray, T. 1999. Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea). In The Birds of North America, No. 479 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America Online, Ithaca, New York.
- Partners in Flight. 2012. Species assessment database.
- USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. 2011. Longevity Records of North American Birds.
- Sauer, J.R., J.E. Hines, J.E. Fallon, K.L. Pardieck, D.J. Ziolkowski Jr., and W.A. Link. 2011. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966–2010. Version 12.07.2011. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Migration
Long-distance migrant. Twice a year, Scarlet Tanagers fly across the Gulf of Mexico between their breeding grounds in eastern North America and their wintering grounds in South America. They usually migrate at night. Individuals that spend the winter farther south migrate to breeding grounds later, and in more synchronized bursts, than individuals wintering further north.
Backyard Tips
Scarlet Tanagers visit many kinds of berry plants, including blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, juneberries, serviceberries, mulberries, strawberries, and chokeberries.
Find This Bird
During spring migration and summer, listen for the raspy, robin-like song of the male Scarlet Tanager in mature deciduous forest in the East. They like to stay high in the trees, but if you are patient and keep looking up, you’ll probably see a flash of brilliant red as the male changes song perches or goes after an insect. During late summer and fall migration, Scarlet Tanagers often join mixed flocks of other songbirds to feed. If you can learn this bird’s distinctive chick-burr call note, it’s very useful for finding both males and females.