Tanager

Tanager, common name for a large, diverse, and generally colorful group of American passerine birds. Most species feed on fruit, but a group of species has evolved adaptations of bill and tongue for feeding on nectar (see Honeycreeper). Tanagers are basically tropical birds; only four species breed in North America, and all four move south for the winter. The scarlet tanager is the northeasternmost species. The adult male is bright scarlet with black wings and tail in the breeding season, exchanging its red plumage for olive-green feathers like those of the female before migrating to the Tropics. Its place is taken in the west by the western tanager, the male of which is bright yellow, with black wings and tail, and red on the face only. The female differs from other dull-colored species of the genus in having whitish wing bars. Males of the other two North American species are all red—pinkish red in the summer tanager of the southeast, and brick red in the hepatic tanager of the southwest. Males of both of these species are red all year.

Large groups of mixed species of tanagers, orioles, and other fruit-eating birds gather on single trees in the Tropics, moving to another tree when the fruit crop is exhausted. These feeding flocks are among the most colorful and exciting sights for bird-watchers in the American Tropics.

Scientific classification: Tanagers belong to the family Emberizidae of the order Passeriformes. The scarlet tanager is classified as Piranga olivacea, the western tanager as Piranga ludoviciana, the summer tanager as Piranga rubra, and the hepatic tanager as Piranga flava.