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This stunning tropical bird has brilliance second to no other bird found in the Algonquin Highlands. Scarlet Tanager males, during the breeding season, are brilliant scarlet red, with black wings and tail. Females and nonbreeding males are olive green, males maintaining black wings and tails.
The drastic differences between males and females occur for definite reasons. Females drab colours are good for not attracting the attention of predators, making the nest safer. The bright colours of the male are used to attract a mate, giving them a better chance for reproduction. Once the breeding season is over, the males will moult, loosing the brilliant red, replaced by the drab green of the females. It is common to see a male with both red and green feathers in the fall, making identification much harder. They do, however, maintain their black wings and tails.
They build their shallow nests of twigs and stems, lined with grass on tree branches. The female will lay 3 or 4 greenish eggs, spotted with brown. The song of the Scarlet Tanager is a hurried burry warble, much like that of a robin. Only here for the summer mating season, the Scarlet Tanager winters in the tropics.
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SCARLET TANAGER
Piranga olivacea
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