Cardinals, Piranga Tanagers and Allies

Summer Tanager

Piranga rubra
Perhaps the most celebrated Summer Tanager to appear in our area was the one the cat got – not long after Gerhard Leubner banded it.Leubner caught the bird, a first-year male, in a mist net in his Irondequoit backyard on 7 May 1960. It was only our second record of this rare visitor from the south. “After being carefully studied and photographed by Leubner, Robert Dobson and Leo Tanghe, it was released,” John Brown reported. (BA, 12 May 1960) Then, on 11 May “boys in the Leubners’ neighborhood in Upland Drive brought him the body of the bird which had apparently been killed by a cat. A small boy had taken it from the cat and buried it, later telling a friend he had buried a bird with a band on its leg. The friend told his parents, the bird was exhumed and taken back to Leubner. Last night it was left at the Museum. . .” Background
This colorful Neotropical migrant nests across the southern U.S. from California to Florida, and in the east as far north as Illinois, southern Ohio and southern Delaware. Eastern birds frequent open deciduous forests, often near gaps and edges, notes W. Douglas Robinson in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. It hawks bees and wasps in flight, then carries them back to its perch where it slams its prey repeatedly against the branch until dead. The stinger is removed by wiping the bee or wasp on the branch before eating it. Declining along the edges of its range in the east. It has expanded its range in some parts of the southwest, but has declined severely in California and lower Colorado River valley where destruction of riparian habitat is rampant. Overall breeding populations appear to have remained generally stable in recent years, but loss of tropical forests on its wintering grounds may also affect its numbers. (BNA 248: 1-3, 5, 16)
Status The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an occasional, very rare spring visitant and a casual, very rare fall visitant.
Occurrences
Only 17 records, all but one in April or May. Our first record, according to Edson, was a female observed 19 May 1947 at Highland Park by Dr. Elisha Atkins. “At that time Dr. Atkins was doing research work for Strong Memorial Hospital but had resided for some time in the normal range of this tanager and was well acquainted with it.” (WBR, 26 May 1947; 16 May 1960) Leubner’s banded bird on 7 May 1960 at Irondequoit (KB 10: 61) A female 19 May 1969 (Listman) at Manitou. (KB 19:151) 4. Another 22 April 1973 stopped by the woods along East Manitou Road near the Hawk Lookout at a particularly opportune time. A Genesee Ornithological Society field trip was scheduled there that day, and the participants were able to study it “intermittently over a period of several hours,” Laura Moon reported. It was flycatching from the trees from one side of the road to the other, and later dropped to some very low shrubs at eye level in an adjacent field. It was mostly red except for bright olive green on the tail, wing and across the lower abdomen, which made for an interesting contrast. (GOS, June 1973) 5. A female on 21 September 1973 (Lloyd) at Webster. (KB 24:18) 6. A male on 21-23 May 1976 at Kendall. (KB 26: 160) 7. A female on 28 May 1978 (Listman, mob) at Braddock Bay. (KB 28:172) 8. A male on 18 May 1980 at Letchworth SP. (KB 30:168) Paul Conklin and Douglas Bassett observed it “near the fountain at the Glen Iris Inn.” (Fox, p. 90) 9. A molting male on 5 May 1981 (Reister, Steinhauser, Davids, Griffith) at Braddock Bay. (KB 31:165) 10. One on 13 May 1983 (Reister, Symonds, et al) at Island Cottage. (KB 33:191) 11. One on 22 May 1983 (Will, Mason) at Honeoye. (KB 33:191) 12. One on 12 May 1984 (Conklin) at Island Cottage. (KB 34:180) 13. Two on 21 May 1988 (D. and D. Traver) at Webster. (KB 38:197) 14. A male on 12-21 May 1997 (Tydings, mob) at Irondequoit (KB 47:204) “visiting a suet/seed-mix feeder at a very regular 5-10 minutes feeding followed by almost exactly 20 minutes absence from early morning to late evening…The homeowners were kind enough to allow visitors on the 16th and 18th, when nearly 50 local and more distant birders stopped by for excellent views and photos.” (GOS, July/Aug 1997) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 50:21) 15. Three – two females and a molting male – on 16 May 1997 on Oxbow Lane near Nations Road, observed and well described by D. Van Horn from as close as 40 feet. (GOS, April 1998; Fox, p. 90) 16. One banded on 23 May 2002 (BBBO) at Manitou. (KB 52:244) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 54: 299) 17. An adult male on 9 May 2007 (D. Tetlow) west spit, Braddock Bay. (LG, July/August 2007)

Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea
Among the exhibits at the Rochester Museum & Science Center is a large glass dome with stuffed bird specimens inside. It is a bit of “bird parlor décor” – purchased in Rochester in 1877 – when a great many birds were shot to “satisfy the collecting mania of the time while supplying objects with which to decorate the house.” Among the specimens preserved inside the dome are two male Scarlet Tanagers. (Marcotte, p. 18) That is hardly surprising. Few songbirds can match the Scarlet Tanager for sheer, stunning color.Indeed, more than a century later, on 16 June 1990, a trio of birders walked along the wet woodlands that straddle Norway Road just north of West Ridge Road. All around, gypsy moth caterpillars were hungrily defoliating the trees. So many, in fact, that you could hear the gnawing. But the birds loved it. Amid the carnage, a male Scarlet Tanager, truly vibrant, flew into an oak where its nest had been placed overhanging the road. Binoculars were quickly replaced as the birders eagerly took aim – with cameras, not guns.
Background
The breeding range of this strikingly colorful bird corresponds closely to the boundaries of the eastern deciduous forest where, “despite its brilliant coloration it is often overlooked because of its unobtrusive and secretive behavior,” notes Thomas B. Mowbray in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. “Fortunately its hoarse, burry song and frequently uttered Chip-Churr calls are quite distinctive and alert us to its presence high in the canopy.” This neotropical migrant is a bird of the forest interior, suffering high rates of predation and brood parasitism, or vacating areas altogether, when fragmentation leaves only small woodlots. “In such landscapes where the forest is highly fragmented, the species appears to exist as a dynamic mosaic of source and sink populations.” BBS data since 1966 indicate a relatively stable population overall, increasing in some regions, decreasing in others. However, “it remains unclear whether BBS surveyors are often recording unmated males in forest fragments too small for breeding territories . . . and breeding pairs in woodlots whose nests are unlikely to produce successful broods because of nest predation and brood parasitism.” (BNA 479: 1-2, 20-21)
Local history
“I have seen as many as 12 or 15 male tanagers in an open plowed field during the first part of May, when they are feeding on May beetles and their larvae,” Eaton (1914) observed. He listed it as a fairly common summer resident in Wayne County, but uncommon in Monroe and Livingston, and a common transient visitor in Monroe. (Eaton II: 338, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated single birds were the norm, with a maximum count of seven, on dates ranging from 7 May to 12 October.When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, this species was reported 200 times, usually no more than 1-3 at a time, with 62 of the sightings during the third week of May. (KB 5: 69: 7A-7B)In 1953, Tanghe considered this an uncommon breeding bird in the Rochester area, specifically listing the Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Bushnell’s Basin as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953) Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, fairly common summer resident and a casual, very rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 May (1985) to 21 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 7-13 May. Subsequently, one on 19 April 1994 (Liguori) at Braddock Bay (addendum to May noteworthies) was earlier. (GOS, July 1994) Also early: 29 April 2004. (LG, June 2004)
Spring maxima: 22 on 23 May 1987 (Bassett, Conklin) at Letchworth SP. (GOS, July 1987) 20 on 25 May 1996 (mob) at several locations. (GOS, July/August 1996)
Summer/breeding status: This stunning summer resident has a robust song but sluggish movements. It needs fairly large wooded tracts, where its nests are “frequently so loosely put together that when viewed from the ground the eggs may be seen through the nest,” Eaton (1914) noted. (Eaton II: 339) This songster is especially vulnerable when woodlands are fragmented. Nonetheless, evidence of breeding was found in blocks throughout our region during the Breeding Bird Atlas projects, with the most consistent gaps occurring in western Monroe County where development pressure has been severe. More easily found in the unbroken forested highlands in southern Livingston and Ontario Counties.

Summer maxima: 11 on 23 June 1988 (Reinhardt) on the east side of Letchworth SP. (Fox, p. 90) 9 on 31 August 1966 (S. Taylor) at Powder Mill Park. (GOS, October 1966)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 9 September to 23 October, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 16 to 30 September.
Winter: A rare winter appearance was a female 10-13 December 1981 at Mendon Ponds Nature Center feeder. (KB32: 115) It was seen by a nature center staff member and confirmed by other observers. It was “eating peanut butter and appeared in poor condition,” John Brown reported. (BA, 17 December 1981)

Western Tanager

Piranga ludoviciana
The morning of 9 May 1993 was calm, clear and crisp – only about 55 degrees. At Washington Grove, a mature woods with steep hills on the north side of Cobbs Hill Reservoir, Jean Browning caught sight of a bird with a bright yellow belly amid the blossoms of a tree about 75 feet away. When its red face also came into view, Jean at first thought it must be an “escaped cage bird,” she wrote in her verification report. However, when it landed on a horizontal branch, facing her 30 feet away, she could see red on the back of the head, a yellow collar, and a blunt, thick bill of light shade. When it again landed 100 feet away, this time with its back to her, she could see the black back, two wing bars (upper one “noticeably” wider) and the lighter rump. “In the two or three minutes of spotting the behavior and markings of the bird I concluded that I had a wandering male Western Tanager.” The bird, our third of only three ever recorded in our region, then flew off to the east.
Background
This colorful species breeds farther north than any other tanager, reaching southeast Alaska and extreme southern Yukon Territory. It nests in open conifers and mixed woodlands southwards across much of the western third of the U.S Its sluggish habits and its predilection for seeking the shade of foliage make it relatively inconspicuous, notes Jocelyn Hudon in her profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. However, large numbers can appear in parks and orchards during migration. It winters in southern California, Mexico and Central America. Individuals are annually recorded far outside this species’ normal range. Populations fluctuate from year to year, but this is not considered an endangered or threatened species. (BNA 432: 1-2, 19, 21)
Status
       Sporadic, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
This colorful western species has been reported only three times here.      1. A male on 21 August 1977 (Gordon) at Pittsford sat briefly above a thistle feeder, apparently attracted by the commotion of American Goldfinches feeding there. (KB 27:218)      2. A male on 6 May 1980 (V. Miller-Dardenne) Irondequoit. (KB 30:168) Not accepted by NYSARC. (KB 31:210)A male on 9 May 1993 (Browning) at Cobbs Hill. (KB 43:223) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 45:74)
Misc.
     A cautionary tale can be found in the published accounts of one to two “Western Tanagers” that reportedly appeared every few days at a Pittsford residence from mid May into June 1963. One observer “took about 25 feet of film” of the rare visitors, Alfred Starling reported. (WBR, 17 June 1963) “The identification seems to be unimpeachable,” John Brown noted in his column. (BA, 13 June 1963) Alas, it was anything but. “The bird in question turned out to be a male Scarlet Tanager in changing plumage.” (BA, 27 June 1963)

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