Western Tanager Male

May 2016 has been a bonus in terms of observing Western Tanagers in our Aldea backyard. Over the last two years we have not seen much of them at all, but this week a pair plus a stray male have been in the yard for most of every day. I think that the non-melting suet cylinder ( PB&J or Naturally Nuts both work) that Wild Birds Unlimited recommended I hang up in a tree and near water did the trick.

Also, sidebar, I was lucky enough to also guide a group of Aldea Birders for the EBird Global Big Day on May 14 to an area in downtown Santa Fe where we saw a dozen Western Tanagers. So they are around now and will probably leave very soon for more suitable breeding habitat north of New Mexico.

The males are now stunning in full-color breeding plumage. They are much paler in winter when they migrate south to Mexico and further into Costa Rica. The Western tanager breeds farther north than any other member of its mostly tropical family, breeding to nearly 60 degrees north in the Northwest Territories.

Although some Western Tanagers may nest in this part of New Mexico, they need very tall trees and we do not have many here in Aldea, so I am assuming the tanagers that are here now are just passing through to breeding grounds in the northwestern states and on up into Canadian mountain areas.

A group of tanagers is known as “season” of tanagers.

Click to enlarge photos.