Stats

Lifespan

5-8 yrs

Size

Small

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Pair

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Speed

Status

Common

About

The Summer Tanager is the only entirely red bird in North America, with adult males a solid rosy-red year-round rather than molting into duller plumage. It specializes in catching bees and wasps on the wing, beating them against a branch to remove the stinger before eating them.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A small clutch of speckled eggs is incubated in a cup nest, turned and kept warm by the parent.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A pink, blind hatchling is fed by its parents in the nest, gaping its bill at every visit.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to fly and to forage close to its parents.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage and song.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Cardinalidae

Genus

Piranga

Species

Piranga rubra