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By Tanya Dewey
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Genera Incertae Sedis (12:69)
Genus: Piranga
Species: Piranga olivacea
Geographic Range
Scarlet tanagers breed in eastern North America and winter in northern and western South America, from Panama in the north as far south as Bolivia. The breeding range is from southern Canada as far west as Manitoba and east to the Maritime provinces and south through the western Carolinas, northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and much of Arkansas. The breeding range corresponds with the extent of the eastern deciduous forest biome.
Habitat
Elevation
1525 m (high)
(5002 ft)
1525 m (high)
(5002 ft)
Scarlet tanagers are found mainly in mature deciduous forests or mixed deciduous forests with hemlock (Tsuga) and pine (Pinus). They can also be found in younger deciduous forests and sometimes in heavily wooded suburban areas. In the Smoky Mountains they are found from 425 to 1525 meters of elevation, in other mountainous parts of their range they are found at all elevations in suitable habitat. Habitat use in their winter range in South America is poorly known, but they are generally found in mid-elevation evergreen forests, from 100 and 1,300 meters on the eastern slope of the Andes. (Mowbray, 1999)
Physical Description
Mass
23.50 to 38 g
(0.83 to 1.34 oz)
23.50 to 38 g
(0.83 to 1.34 oz)
Length
16 to 17 cm
(6.3 to 6.69 in)
16 to 17 cm
(6.3 to 6.69 in)
Wingspan
25 to 29 cm
(9.84 to 11.42 in)
25 to 29 cm
(9.84 to 11.42 in)
Scarlet tanagers are 16 to 17 cm long with a wingspan of 25 to 29 cm. They weigh from 23.5 to 33 grams during the breeding season and from 32 to 38 grams during migration. Mature males in breeding season are bright red with black wings and tails, in the winter they resemble females except for their black wings and tail. Females and immature birds are dull, olive green above and straw-yellow below with dark wings and tail. (Mowbray, 1999)
Females, immature individuals, and males in winter plumage are sometimes confused with female and immature summer tanagers (Piranga rubra) or western tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana), with which they sometimes co-occur. Some details of plumage color help to distinguish these species, as do their distinctive calls. Scarlet tanagers use a hoarse "chip-churr" call, while western tanagers use a soft "pri-tic" call and summer tanagers use a staccato "pit-i-tuck" call. (Mowbray, 1999)
Females, immature individuals, and males in winter plumage are sometimes confused with female and immature summer tanagers (Piranga rubra) or western tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana), with which they sometimes co-occur. Some details of plumage color help to distinguish these species, as do their distinctive calls. Scarlet tanagers use a hoarse "chip-churr" call, while western tanagers use a soft "pri-tic" call and summer tanagers use a staccato "pit-i-tuck" call. (Mowbray, 1999)
Sexual dimorphism: 
male more colorful.
male more colorful.Reproduction
Scarlet tanagers form monogamous pairs for breeding each season. No studies of banded birds have confirmed that pair bonds last beyond the breeding season. Males use a silent courtship display in which they fly to exposed branches below a female and extend their wings and neck to expose their scarlet back. Females are apparently attracted to the male's scarlet color as well as their posture and movements. (Mowbray, 1999)
Breeding occurs from May to August. Females build shallow, saucer-shaped nests in a week or less from twigs, rootlets, coarse grass, and weed stems, and line them with fine grasses and pine needles. They are placed anywhere from 4-75 feet above ground. Four to 5, usually 4, pale blue-green eggs with brown speckles are incubated for 13-14 days. Though they are brooded by females only, both parents bring food to the nest. The nest is kept clean and the droppings are swallowed or carried away in the bill. The young are able to leave the nest about 9-15 days after hatching. (Mowbray, 1999)
Key reproductive features:
iteroparous; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous .
iteroparous
; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous .Behavior
Males usually arrive from their winter stay in South America slightly before the females and stake out territories in choice tall trees. To warn the other males away, each sings frequently from his own spot with songs such as :"querit, queer, queery, querit, queer" along with the call note "CHIP-churr or CHICK-bur". Females are attracted to the singing males, who court potential mates by hopping about on low perches in woods near the ground, spreading their wings and displaying their scarlet backs. The males often feed their partners as the nesting season approaches. (Mowbray, 1999)
Food Habits
Scarlet tanagers eat insects while foraging in treetops, in shrubs or on the ground. Preferred foods include aphids, nut weevils, wood borers, leaf beatles, cicadas, scale insects, dragonflies, ants, termites, caterpillars of gypsy moths, parasitic wasps, bees, mulberries, June-berries, huckleberries and other wild fruits. (Mowbray, 1999)
Animal Foods:
insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods.
insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods.
Plant Foods:
fruit.
fruit.
Predation
Known predators
- eastern screech owls (Otus asio)
- long-eared owls (Asio otus)
- short-eared owls (Asio flammeus)
- merlins (Falco columbarius)
- blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata)
- grackles (Quiscalus)
- American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
- tree squirrels (Sciurus)
- chipmunks (Tamias)
- snakes (Serpentes)
Adult scarlet tanagers are eaten by birds of prey, including eastern screech owls, long-eared owls, short-eared owls and merlins. Eggs and nestling predators include blue jays, grackles, American crows, squirrels, chipmunks, and snakes.
Scarlet tanagers mob most predators, diving and swooping around them while calling at them. However, scarlet tanagers respond to American crows and merlins by becoming quiet and watchful, apparently in an attempt to be inconspicuous.
Scarlet tanagers mob most predators, diving and swooping around them while calling at them. However, scarlet tanagers respond to American crows and merlins by becoming quiet and watchful, apparently in an attempt to be inconspicuous.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known negative effects of scarlet tanagers on humans.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Scarlet tanagers eat insects that some humans may consider to be pests.
Ways that people benefit from these animals:
controls pest population.
controls pest population.
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List: [link]:
Least Concern.
Least Concern.
US Migratory Bird Act: [link]:
Protected.
Protected.
US Federal List: [link]:
No special status.
No special status.
CITES: [link]:
No special status.
No special status.
State of Michigan List: [link]:
No special status.
No special status.
Scarlet tanagers are abundant and widespread, requiring no special conservation status.
For More Information
Contributors
Tanya Dewey (author), Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Robin Street (author), University of Michigan.
Robin Street (author), University of Michigan.
References
Terres, John K. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1980.
Mowbray, T. 1999. Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea). Birds of North America, 479: 1-14. Accessed February 04, 2008 at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/479.
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology - Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 15, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Piranga_olivacea.html
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