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Posted by Trey Mitchell on 10:02:54 12/23/07
In Reply to: Kendall CBC - Blackpoint posted by Dan Irizarry
I agree that the photo gives the appearance that the bird could be a Scarlet Tanager, but the photo is very deceiving.
First the bird in the field had no greenish cast to it at all. It was very yellow with some hints of orange. I am posting a tighter crop of the original and one that is a bit color corrected. The camera and the way the light was bouncing off the green leaves in the shadows; I believe caused the green cast.
As for the wing bars: "The Birds of North America Online" says, "Females are more difficult to distinguish in the field (Kaufman 1988). Female Summer Tanager usually brownish or orange-yellow, lacks greenish cast to plumage, and has narrow, yet usually conspicuous, yellowish edging on wing coverts makes wings appear to have same color as body. Female Scarlet Tanager appears greener, has wings darker than body plumage, and lacks contrasting edges on wing coverts."
I included one of my photos of a Summer Tanager that shows the lighter edges on the coverts that give the appearance of a wing bar.
As you can see in the photos the Scarlet Tanager in good light shows no bars and no eye ring. I have seen many photos of Summer Tanagers with bold eye-rings online and have a shot a couple my self.
Unfortunately the bird isn't a Scarlet, I wish it was, it would have been nice to have seen a first state winter record...
Cheers, and Merry Christmas Bird Count!!!!
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