Summer Tanager Surprise

 

Hello yellow! A fall visit by a female Summer Tanager was not on my October calendar, but it happened and I couldn’t be happier.  Let me know next time, and I’ll make sure the jelly dish is full. 

The camera on my feeder recorded video at around 7:30 in the morning on Oct. 9. When I later reviewed the day’s birds, I knew this wasn’t one of the usual suspects. The bird identification app I use called Picture Bird said Summer Tanager when I entered these two screenshots from the video. 

Here’s the read out from Picture Bird. I knew this was a female of the species because I have, on a few occasions photographed the all-red male Summer Tanager. 

Here’s a male Summer Tanager I encountered in June 2021 at the Hollings National Wildlife Refuge in the ACE Basin south of Charleston.

Here's my post from that excursion. 

What a treat it was to see one of nature’s loveliest birds. This was along a wooded canopy trail in a section of the Hollings ACE Basin preserve. 

In April 2019 on my blog I posted this image of a female Summer Tanager that was perched in my backyard. Here is that post. 

And, lo and behold, I have photographed another Tanager in my yard. This was in Spring 2012. Gosh, I’ve been blogging for a long time. This is a male Scarlet Tanager, distinguished by its red body and black wings and tail. Not the sharpest image, but sharp enough. A very experienced birder friend confirmed the identity of this fine fellow. 

I have male and female Summer Tanagers in my bathroom! They are among more than 30 types of birds that I photographed in the summer of 2012 during several visits to a College of Charleston property in Hollywood, S.C. The place was called Dixie Plantation back then. The name was changed to Stono Preserve several years ago. 

This is a post I did in 2019 about Dixie Plantation. 

The Tanager couple was together in a tree when I spotted them, a great moment for me! Note the Painted Bunting and Red-headed Woodpecker above the Tanagers. I scored many lifer birds that summer prowling the grounds of Dixie Plantation/Stono Preserve. 

I identified the tanagers in this print as the summer variety. But now, on closer inspection, I think they may actually be Scarlet Tanagers. Note the darker wing colors. I need to look into this some more. 

The Summer Tanager this month came about three weeks after another out-of-the-ordinary feeder visitor. On Sept. 14 a Hooded Warbler enjoyed some grape jelly, earning a spot on my candid camera. Here’s my post about this bird.

Another feathered friend recently left this feather on the road near our mailbox. I picked it up, thinking it was pretty and I curious to try to find the species. 

Identifying feathers is easier today than it used to be. I joined a Facebook site called Feather Identification Worldwide and had the answer in no time. 

Here’s my post and the answer from Adam Fu:

Red -tailed Hawk. A few other followers agreed. 

Adam was specific, saying it’s a covert feather. He explained (and I later Googled it) that covert feathers are smaller ones that lie over the base of the larger flight or tail feathers. On the wings, the covert feathers overlap like shingles, helping smooth the wing’s shape and airflow. 

There is always more to learn in this birding hobby!