![]() ![]() ![]() The summer tanager is beekee-teht-taht, and you'll hear that often, especially around dawn or dusk. The scarlet tanager goes chicka-burrr, chicka-burrr. Their songs sound like buzzy robin songs, but they have a call note that allows you to be able to distinguish or locate them. "You really have to be in the deep woods to be able to see the scarlet tanager, but the summer tanager, you're going to see on almost every block in town. " are larger than normal-sized birds," Pollpeter explains. They come up this way because there's not a lot of competition for them to be able to breed." Both birds are here during the summer months mainly because there's a lot of food available for them that a lot of other birds may not take advantage of, things like fruit and insects are the main things that these guys are going for. If you live in a little bit thicker woods, a dry hilltop, or something that's got a lot of trees, the scarlet tanager can be just as beautiful, a deeper red with black wings and a black tail. To see something that vividly colored in our yard besides a cardinal is a special treat." They're all tomato red, a bright, vivid color, kind of a fun bird to get to see, and very tropical looking. They're going to be associated with your large oak trees. ![]() Most people are going to see the summer tanager in their front yard or backyard. One is known as the scarlet tanager, and one is the summer tanager. "There are two kinds of tanagers we have here in Kentucky and Tennessee. "I would be remiss if I didn't mention any of the tanagers," he continues. They're tropical looking because they have very vivid colors," Pollpeter begins. But the summer brings in some real treats from tropical places. Those are definitely spectacular to have in our yard. "When I'm out in my front yard, you notice the real colorful birds with the beautiful songs - cardinals, bluebirds, goldfinches. These bugs attract more birds to my backyard than any bird feeder can.In the next installment of Sounds Good's LBL Wildlife Report, Tracy Ross and Woodlands Nature Station lead naturalist John Pollpeter discuss a variety of neo-tropical migrating birds that live in the local area during the spring and summer months before flying back to South and Central America for the fall and winter. The arrival of the orioles, catbirds and other migrants don’t so much herald spring as they do insect season. I try to remember that when I am chased inside by swarms of black flies, mosquitoes or deer flies. That said, in the summer, the young nestlings of both species are fed almost entirely on insects which provide the protein needed for growth so those oranges and raisins are most likely adult fare. Catbirds really, really love soaked raisins, but most any kind of fruit will do. I try to avoid giving birds the equivalent of junk food. I used to put out the cheapest grape jelly for orioles, but realizing I wouldn’t eat this myself, switched to jelly with organically grown grapes and no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. More recently I stopped offering jelly in favor of fruit since that is a more natural source of sugar. In addition to oranges, Baltimore orioles love dark fruit and will bypass green grapes for purple ones, and will wait for cherries and mulberries to get as ripe, and dark, as possible.Ĭatbirds love all kinds of fruit from wild berries to cultivated fruit so much so that they can even become a pest and destroy crops. I like to put out raisins for the catbirds. Over the years my approach to feeding has evolved. The extra calories bird feeders provide can help balance all the other stressors humans have imposed on birds. ![]() Keeping feeders clean helps with that. But I think the feeders are worth it. One thing we can all do, if we own a home in the suburbs (or city or countryside) is to plant native species that provide food and habitat for our birds. Bird feeders can both help and hurt - disease transmission can be very high at feeding stations where large numbers of birds congregate and co-mingle. Sadly, the diversity and abundance of bird life in my backyard pales in comparison to what was here in pre-colonial times. To me, having both of these birds, along with a slew of others, come to my feeders (which I’ll be taking down soon to avoid attracting bears) makes me happy that we have such diversity of life in our backyards and that this diversity has managed to adapt fairly well to humans. Both of these birds like the kind of open woodland and forest edge that are common in the suburbs. Baltimore orioles make those distinctive pendulous nests high in deciduous trees, often dangling over roads, rivers or fields, while catbirds prefer the thickets we provide when we cut down forests and let tangles of shrubs and vines proliferate at the edges of our lawns and roadsides. ![]()
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