TANAGERS : Family Thraupidae [ 5 3 1 ] 



Tanagers: Family Thraupidae 



Western Tanager: 



Piranga ludoviciana (Wilson) 



DESCRIPTION. "Upper mandible with a tooth-like projection on cutting edge. 

 Adult male in summer: head and neck bright orange or red; rest of under parts bright 

 yellow; upper parts black, with yellow rump and wing patches. Adult female in 

 summer: upper parts olive green, back and scapulars grayish; wing bars dull yellow- 

 ish; under parts pale grayish yellow, becoming sulphur yellow on under tail coverts; 

 anterior part of head sometimes tinged with red. Adult male in winter: like summer 

 female, but with head yellow or slightly tinged with red, more or less obscured on 

 occiput and hind neck with olive green or dusky tips to feathers; feathers of back 

 usually more or less distinctly edged with yellowish olive; tertials broadly tipped 

 with white or pale yellow; tail feathers more or less tipped with white. Young male 

 in first autumn: like adult female, but clearer yellow below and rump yellower. 

 Young female in first autumn: like adult female, but duller; upper parts more brownish 

 olive, under parts washed with brownish olive; wing bars narrower, and buffy. 

 Young male, first plumage: upper parts olive green; wings blackish, with yellow wing 

 bars; tail with outer webs of feathers edged with olive green; throat and chest 

 grayish, chest tinged with yellow and streaked; chin and under tail coverts yellow; 

 rest of under parts white. Male: length (skins) 6.2.0-6.95, wing 3.71-3.83, tail 

 2..64-X.98, bill .57-. 62.. Female: length (skins) 6.30-6.90, wing 3.54-3.88, tail 

 -L. 68-2.. 89, bill .53-. 63." (Bailey) Nest: A somewhat flimsy structure of twigs and 

 grass, sometimes lined with rootlets and hair and placed on a horizontal limb 

 within 2.0 or 30 feet of the ground. Eggs: 3 or 4, bluish green, spotted with brown 

 (Plate 90, A). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from northern British Columbia, Mackenzie, and 

 southwestern South Dakota south to mountains of western Texas, southern Arizona, 

 and Lower California. Winters in Mexico and Central America. In Oregon: Com- 

 mon summer resident and breeding species of forested sections. 



MEARNS (1879), w ^ reported the Western Tanager at Fort Klamath, 

 was the first to list it for Oregon, and nearly every subsequent writer 

 has had some comment to make on this bird with its brilliant coat and 

 distinctive voice that is a common summer resident and breeding species 

 of the forested areas of the State. It arrives in late April (earliest date, 

 April n, Josephine County) and remains until September (latest date, 

 September 2.8, Klamath County). It begins to build its flimsy nest (Plate 

 90, A) soon after its arrival in April and deposits the eggs in May or 

 June. John Hooper Bowles (1901) gave June 4 and 2.8 as outside limits 

 of egg dates, but Patterson (ms.) listed sets taken from May 13 to June 

 2.7, inclusive, in the southern Cascades. 



In migration, the Western Tanagers excite a great deal of comment, 

 particularly when unusual weather conditions force them to stop over. 

 In late May 19x0 we were together in Harney County when a sudden 

 heavy snowfall forced down a multitude of migrating birds, many of 

 which remained for several days. It was curious to walk through the 

 sagebrush and see the topmost stalks flame-tipped with the brilliant 



