Yellow-headed Blackbird 



Bruce Pitcher 



WESTERN TAN ACER (Piranga ludoviciana) 



Amid the breathtaking beauty of the natural landscapes of Yellowstone 

 and Grand Teton, it is most fitting that the striking western tanager 

 should reside as one of the most common breeding birds, for it is one of 

 the most beautiful of all birds. From a pinnacle or bough of an evergreen 

 tree, the tanager sings its deliberate, robin-like song and on medium- 

 height branches builds its shallow, saucer-shaped nest. The brilliant male 

 is lemon yellow, with black wings and tail and a red head. The female is 

 dull greenish above, yellow below, with white or yellowish wingbars. 

 Tanagers are birds of the forest canopy. They move deliberately in their 

 incessant search for insects, vvhich make up the main part of their diet. 

 Western tanagers are common breeding birds in open conifers and mixed 

 forests of the spruce-fir, lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir/aspen habitats. 



EveningCrosbeak 



Dean E. Biggins 



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