IBRC 35-B-11

Idaho Bird Records Committee
Rarities Report Form

Species: Summer Tanager (second-calendar-year male)

Reporter: Jay Carlisle
4202 Whitehead St., Boise, ID 83703 jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu

Other Observers: Heidi Ware

Date Report Prepared: 6-23-11
Date Sighting Occurred: 6-21-11

Locality of Observation: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Butte Co.; specifically, the bird was seen along the Wilderness Trail about a mile south of the trailhead.
Habitat: Limber Pine adjacent to shrub-steppe and exposed lava
Conditions: clear and calm

Did you take notes? not at all
Did you consult a field guide or other reference work? no
What guide(s) or reference(s) did you consult?

Description: As the stopwatch alarmed at the end of a standardized point-count survey, I looked up to see a bird with a lot of reddish on it fly from E to W at about 40 meters distance. It seemed like too much red for anything expected so I followed it to its perch and saw a medium-sized songbird with mostly reddish at the front (especially the head and upper chest) and mustard-yellow on most of the back, the tail, and stomach. In places, the red and yellow mixed together in a splotchy way – especially on the head where the front was mostly red but the back was partly yellow. It also had a relatively large and deep, pale-colored bill. I first found the bird around 8am. Heidi (was counting along another trail) hiked out to meet me later and, after waiting a while, we were able to re-find the bird in the same area just after 1130am.

How and when did you positively identify the bird, and what clinched the identification for you? Because I have seen this species many times before, I recognized it right away as a second-year male.
How did you eliminate similar species, and what were they? Similar species include other tanagers as well as orioles. Western Tanager male was eliminated by the mix of red and yellow on the head and body and by the uniformly yellowish wings (with no wing bars). The color and size of the bill separates it from the other eastern/southern tanagers (Hepatic and Scarlet). Orioles have narrower and pointier bills.

Experience with this species (and similar species): I have observed hundreds of Summer Tanagers in many states, most recently Arizona, and several Latin American countries. I have observed this species once previously in Idaho, a bird in similar plumage at Camas NWR several years ago. I have also observed hundreds to thousands of the other tanager species mentioned as well as many oriole species.
General birding experience: extensive; 15+ years in US and Latin America

Were photo(s), video, and/or audio obtained by you? (If yes, please include or attach) Yes – low quality. See the attached picture that I took through my binoculars. I included the original (bird is low; left of center) and a cropped version.