Western Tanager

Breeding males are unmistakable with a flame-orange head, yellow body and black wings, best looked for high in the canopy of coniferous and mixed mountain forest in the western United States and Canada during late spring and summer. Females and non-breeding birds are duller olive-yellow and easier to overlook, so listening for the burry, robin-like song is often the quickest way to locate a territory. Migration brings birds through lower-elevation woodland and gardens in spring and autumn, when they can turn up well outside typical breeding habitat.