Cardinals and Allies
Piranga ludoviciana
The Western Tanager is a striking songbird of western North America, known for the male's fiery red and yellow plumage. Despite their bright colors, these birds can be surprisingly inconspicuous as they forage high in tree canopies. They are a quintessential woodland species during summer, filling forests with their distinctive calls and songs.
Typical adult measurements.
Individuals and populations vary.
01 / The telltale details
Start with shape and behavior. Then look for the smaller details.
Bright yellow body, black wings and tail, and a distinctive orange-red head. Wings have two bars, one yellow and one white.
Duller yellow-green overall with a grayish back and wings, and two yellowish-white wing bars. Some may show a reddish tinge on the face.
Similar to females, with dimmer yellow-green and blackish plumage. First-year males may have little to no red on their heads.
All plumages feature a pale, stout, and pointed bill, thicker than an insectivore's but thinner than a seed-eater's.
02 / A place in the world
During breeding season, Western Tanagers prefer open coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, often in high mountains or northern regions. In migration, they can be found in diverse habitats, including suburban yards, desert oases, and riparian areas.
Breeds across western North America, from southeastern Alaska south to northern Baja California, extending east to western Texas and north through parts of the central U.S. and into Canada's Northwest Territories. Winters from southern Mexico to Costa Rica.
These birds are long-distance nocturnal migrants. They breed in western North America and migrate south to wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America, with some individuals wintering in Southern California.
03 / Listen a little closer
Their song is a series of burry, slow, and rambling phrases, often described as hoarse and deliberate, similar to an American Robin's but rougher. Calls include a distinctive chuckling or rattling note.
04 / The life behind the feathers
Primarily insectivorous during the breeding season, consuming wasps, ants, termites, stinkbugs, cicadas, beetles, and grasshoppers. They also eat fruits like wild cherries, elderberries, and mulberries, especially during migration and winter.
Western Tanagers typically forage deliberately in the upper canopy of trees, slowly peering for insects among foliage. They also perform flycatcher-like sallies to catch insects in mid-air.
The female builds a shallow, open cup nest of twigs, grass, and rootlets, lined with finer materials, usually in a conifer on a horizontal branch 4.5-20 meters above ground. The male feeds the female during incubation.
Often inconspicuous despite their bright plumage, Western Tanagers move quietly through treetops. Males sing to defend breeding territories and may perform courtship displays involving tumbling flights. They are relatively solitary outside of breeding, sometimes forming small mixed flocks in winter.
One more reason to pay attention
The red coloration on the male's head comes from a rare pigment called rhodoxanthin, obtained from insects in their diet, rather than typical carotenoids.
Western Tanagers breed farther north than any other tanager species, reaching into Canada's Northwest Territories.
The species was first described from a specimen collected during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
05 / An eye for the difference
Male Scarlet Tanagers have entirely black wings and tail, lacking the yellow wing bars and yellow rump of the Western Tanager.
Male Summer Tanagers are entirely rose-red with no black on the wings or tail, unlike the yellow and black Western Tanager. Females are dull yellow.
Female Western Tanagers can suggest female orioles, but tanagers have a noticeably thicker bill.
AI-assisted species research. Prepared September 2026. Details can vary across regions and populations.