Stats

Lifespan: 6-8 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Omnivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Pair
Biome: Temperate coniferous forest
Range: North America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Speed
Status: Common

About

The Western Tanager is a brightly colored songbird of North American conifer forests, with males sporting a fiery orange-red head that comes from a pigment obtained through their diet rather than produced by their own body. It is the northernmost-breeding member of the tanager family.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A small clutch of speckled eggs is incubated in a cup nest, turned and kept warm by the parent.
2.
hatchling
A pink, blind hatchling is fed by its parents in the nest, gaping its bill at every visit.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to fly and to forage close to its parents.
4.
adult
Fully grown with adult plumage and song.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae
Genus: Piranga
Species: Piranga ludoviciana