Scarlet tanagers are striking birds — if you can catch a glimpse

Move over, cardinals. Our state bird isn't the only red bird in town.

If you spot a red bird that isn't a cardinal, it's likely a scarlet tanager you are seeing. Male scarlet tanagers are a striking bright red color with black wings and tails. Like many songbird species, female scarlet tanagers aren't brightly colored. Instead of their namesake scarlet plumage, females are mostly olive green in color with brownish wings and tails, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. 

In the fall, the males lose their bright red feathers and look similar in color to the females, but they keep their black wings and tails, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Why the color change? Because those bright red feathers help the males attract a mate, and they don't need them after breeding season.

Scarlet tanagers are forest birds, preferring mature deciduous forests. For breeding, they typically look for large expanses of forests full of large trees. Despite their bright color, it can be hard to spot scarlet tanagers in the forest because they prefer to stay high in the treetops, the Cornell Lab reports.

These birds are migratory, and their journey is a long one. Their breeding range includes much of the eastern United States and reaches into far southern Canada. They spend their winters in the forests of northwestern South America. They migrate at night, and their journey includes a long flight over the Gulf of Mexico, the Cornell Lab reports.

During spring and fall, you may also spy scarlet tanagers outside their preferred forested habitat because during their migration they sometimes forage for food in open spaces like parks, according to the American Bird Conservancy. 

Scarlet tanagers primarily eat insects, but they supplement their diet with fruit and some plant matter. They forage for food by moving across branches up high in the trees or moving up or down tree trunks and using their beaks digging into the bark, the Cornell Lab reports. Among the insects they are looking for are beetles, butterflies, cicadas, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, leafhoppers and termites.  

Because they are hard to see in the trees, it's their song that usually gets our attention. Among songbirds, it's usually only the males that sing, but there are some exceptions, including scarlet tanagers (and their red relatives, cardinals). While both sing, males are louder and their songs are longer, the bird conservancy reports. Their call is often described as sounding like a robin with a cold or a sore throat. 

Scarlet tanagers nest exactly where you think they would: high up in the trees, often at least 50 feet high. The female will look for a shady spot and then build a shallow cup-shaped nest from grasses and twigs, according to the National Zoo. She will lay between three and five bluish-green speckled eggs that she incubates herself. They will hatch about two weeks later.

The hatchlings are taken care of by both parents. The males will collect food and bring it to the female or feed the young birds directly. Within about two weeks, the young birds will fledge the nest. 

Scarlet tanagers are part of the cardinal family of birds, which also includes buntings, grosbeaks and, of course, cardinals. Other tanagers native to North America include summer tanagers, western tanagers, hepatic tanagers and flame-colored tanagers. Hepatic tanagers and flame-colored tanagers have small ranges in North America, mainly in Mexico and parts of the American southwest, while the western tanager can be found across much of the western United States, according to the Cornell Lab.

The summer tanager has a range that includes much of the southeastern and central United States. While parts of Illinois are included in its range, it is not often seen in the northeastern part of the state. The male summer tanager shares its red color with the scarlet tanager, but it is a lighter shade of red. And summer tanagers are entirely red, while scarlet tanagers have black wings and tails. Like scarlet tanagers, the female summer tanagers are more muted in color, mostly yellowish-green with darker wings and backs.